THE 



SAXON IN IRELAND: 



OR, THE 



RAMBLES OF AN ENGLISHMAN 
IN SEARCH OF A SETTLEMENT IN THE WEST OF IRELAND. 



Erranti passimque oculos per cuncta ferenti. Virgil. 

Full many pathes and perils he hath past 

Through hils, thro' dales, thro' forests, and thro' plaines 

In that same quest which fortune on him cast. 

Spenser. 






WITH FRONTISPIECE AND MAP. 



LONDON: 

JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. 

1851. 







[pK 2 



London • 

Spottiswoodes and Shaw, 

N ew-street- Square. 



n 

THE EIGHT HONOURABLE 






TO 



THE EARL OF DEVON; 

WHOSE GREAT PRACTICAL KNOWLEDGE, 

EXTENSIVE INFLUENCE, AND UNTIRING ENERGIES, 

HAVE EVER BEEN DEVOTED 

TO THE BEST INTERESTS OF IRELAND, 

ARE, 

BY HIS LORDSHIP'S KIND PERMISSION, 

AND WITH THE HIGH CONSIDERATION OF THE AUTHOR, 

MOST RESPECTFULLY 

DEDICATED. 



/' 



PREFACE. 



The following pages were principally written 
amid the scenes which they attempt to describe. 
They profess to detail the passing impressions of 
the moment, which may serve as an apology for 
any imperfections apparent in the style or matter. 
The design of the work is to direct the attention 
of persons looking out either for investments or 
for new settlements, to the vast capabilities of 
the Sister Island, and to induce such to visit it, 
and to judge for themselves. Were the unfor- 
tunate prejudices against Ireland, founded as 
they are for the most part in ignorance, once 
removed, men would surely pause, before they 
crossed the broad Atlantic in search of a new 
field for the employment of capital or the pro- 
fitable exercise of their intelligence and industry. 



A 3 



CONTENTS. 



Page 

Introduction ■ «.--- i 



CHAP. I. 

D ublin. — Mnllingar. — Traveller in Orders. — Galway. — 
Geology. — Cliefden - - - 11 

CHAP. II. 

Yale of Kylemore. — Westport - - - 33 

CHAP. III. 

Croagh Patrick. — The Saint. — Antiquities- - 44 

CHAP. IV. 

Westport. — Monalieman Bog. — Ballinrobe. — Cong. — Ro- 
derick O'Connor. — Invasion of Ireland - - - 52 

CHAP. V. 

Cong. — Golden Bay. — Cornamona - - 69 



V1U CONTENTS. 



CHAP. VI. 



Page 

The Pigeon Hole. — Ross Hill. — New Church. — Ross 
Abbey. — Lough Mask Castle - - - 75 



CHAP. VII. 

Lough Corrib. — A Storm. — Inchagoil. — Temple-a-Neeve. 
— Oughterard - - - - - 89 



CHAP. VIII. 

Return. — Remarks on Ireland. — Preparations for Emi- 
gration ------- 104 



CHAP. IX. 

Second Journey into Ireland. — Edgeworthstown. — Strokes- 
town. — Mr. Packenham Mahon. — Castlebar. — The Earl 
of Lucan ------- 109 



CHAP. X. 

Mr. Burke's marvellous Stories. — Newport House. — The 
Caah. — Sir Richard O'Donnell, Bart. — Flax. — Specimen 
of the O'Donnell Tenantry. — A new Friend, Mr. S. — 
Newport Union-House - - - - -118 



CHAP. XL 

Carig-a-Howla. — Burrishoole Abbey. — Lough Feogh - 133 



CONTENTS. IX 

CHAP. XII. 

Page 

Excursion among the Ballycroy Mountains. — Irish Hospi- 
tality - * - - - - - 137 

CHAP. XIII. 

Flax Mills. — Currawn. — Fever Hut. — Pwllranhy. — Inn at 
the Sound. — Kilkurnet Castle. — Slievemore. — Colony - 147 

CHAP. XIV. 

Slievemore, — Meilan. — Dr. Mac Hale and the Reformed 
Divines of Achill - - - - -161 

CHAP. XV. 

Ballycroy. — Mr. Maxwell. — Croy Lodge. — Doona Castle. 
— Fahy Lough - - - - - - 169 

CHAP. XVI. 

Pass of Dukell. — Terry Sweeny. — Farm of Glenduff * 189 

CHAP. XVII. 

The S Family. — The Farm. — The Well of St. Kiaran. 

The Echo Hunter - - - - - 197 

CHAP. XVIII. 

Modes of Reclamation. — Erris. — Advantages of Ireland 
over England for the Agriculturist - 208 

CHAP. XIX. 

Site of a new Church. — The Sound. — Achill - - 218 



X CONTENTS. 

CHAP. XX. 

Page 

Neglected Capabilities. — Irish Waste Land Society. — Mr. 
Vernon's Lodge. — Pass of Lurrigane. — Bivouac. — An- 
cient road. — Bog-trotting - 224 



CHAP. XXI. 

Commissioners for Improvement of Bogs. — Sir H. Davy's 
Letter. — Irish Waste Land Company. — Farmers' Estate 
Society. — Prospects of Ireland - - - - 234 



CHAP. XXH. 

Irrigation. — Draining. — Stock-farming. — Advantages of a 
Country Education - - - - - 251 



CHAP. XXIH. 

New Settlement. — Future Plans. —Encumbered Estates Court. — 
Religious Controversies - - - - 258 



APPENDIX. 

Farewell to Ballycroy - 267 

Achill - 268 

Bogs ------- H. 

Education - - - - - - - 269 

Timber ------- 270 

Irish Character - - - - - - ib. 

Capabilities - - - - - - ib. 

The Irish Peasantry - - - - - 271 

Irish Women - - - - - ib. 

Irish Labourers - - - - - -272 

Reclamation of Bogs ----- 273 



CONTENTS. XI 

Page 

On the Drainage of Bogs - - 275 

On the Nature and Properties of Bog - 276 

Trees - - - - - - - 277 

Vegetable Mould - - - - - - 278 

Varieties of Peat or Bog ----- 279 

Expense of Reclamation - - - - ib. 

Successive Growth of Trees - - - - 281 

Analysis of Peat - - - - - ib. 

Irish Character - - ,, - - -283 

The Peasantry ------ 284 

Necessity of more General Education - 285 

Farmers' Estate Society ----- 286 









THE SAXON m IRELAND. 



INTRODUCTION. 



" I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, 
and on the labour that I had laboured to do, and behold 
all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no 
profit under the sun." Such was the lamentation of 
the Preacher, and I can find no truer expression of 
what I felt when about to be driven by circumstances 
from the home of my fathers. Here I was born, 
here I. was brought up, and. here I once hoped to make 
my final resting-place, as those of my name had done 
before me. If I had always taken both pride and plea- 
sure in my little domain, how much dearer did it seem 
to me now that I must abandon it for ever, and how 
many beauties did I see in it that I had never dis- 
covered till then ! But the saying is older than the oldest 
trees around me, " We seldom know the real value of 
anything till we lose it." It was one of those fine even- 
ings in autumn when twilight lingers as if unwilling to 
give way to night. My wife and a friend were sitting 
with me under an old oak close to my house, the happy 
home of many years. It stood upon a gentle knoll 



2 THE SAXON IN IRELAND. 

overlooking a narrow but lovely vale, amid whose re- 
cesses many a huge tree displayed its grey trunk and 
spreading branches. On the grassy carpet beneath, either 
reposing in picturesque groups, or scattered here and 
there as they browsed the herbage, was seen a herd of 
cattle, the very type of quietude and peace. The birds 
had now sought the thick covert of the brake ; the twitter 
of the blackbird composing himself to rest, the plain- 
tive note of the robin as if lamenting the summer gone, 
or the distant call of the timid partridge, or the faint 
murmur of the brook below, alone broke in upon the 
stillness of the scene. All was England ! the vale — 
the trees — the brook — the cattle — the house — nay, 
the very air and sky — forming a combination at once 
of loveliness and comfort which is rarely to be found 
out of our own country. As yet scarcely one word had 
been uttered by the party seated on the rustic bench 
beneath that old tree. Peculiar feelings — oh, how 
intense ! — had occupied the minds of each of us. My 
sorrowing partner and myself felt that ere long these 
charms must be lost to us for ever ; that the happy, 
joyous home of many years must be deserted ; and that 
now, when we were somewhat past the meridian of life, 
our career was to be recommenced. No fault of mine 
had brought about this result. Enactments, wise per- 
haps and expedient in themselves, but hastily carried 
out, had been in part the cause of my present dim"-, 
culties. I saw little chance of being able to contend 
against them much longer : still less hope was there, 
that when my children were about to enter upon life, it 
would be in their power to take up that position which 
they had a right to expect. It were madness to con- 
tinue hoping against hope. What was to be done then ? 



INTRODUCTION. 3 

was the question we were now met to discuss ; but 
while all gazed sadly on the scene before us, none were 
willing to commence a subject so important yet so pain- 
ful. At length my friend (he was the curate of the 
parish) broke the silence. " I know," said he, in his 
usual gentle and measured tone, " I know what you 
must feel at this moment. Nevertheless, regrets are 
vain when they can be of no service. Your family have 
long occupied these lands with credit to themselves and 
benefit to their neighbours ; but a change (whether for 
weal or woe the Almighty alone can direct) has come 
upon the world. In my humble opinion it is the sure 
sign of a decline, when those principles, which under 
Providence created power and prosperity, are hastily 
abandoned without sufficient grounds, and merely upon 
a chance of something better. But," continued he, 
forcing a smile, "I am not here to read you a lecture 
on political economy ; you and I think differently 
sometimes on these matters, let us therefore come to the 
point — How are you best to meet the exigencies of 
your peculiar case ? Have you devised any scheme ? " 
I replied, that after much deep and anxious considera- 
tion, we could devise no mode of escape from our pre- 
sent position but one — to emigrate. " The only real 
question, therefore," I continued, " which remains to be 
solved is, whither shall we bend our steps ? Since 
poverty and endurance are to be our lot, let it be at 
least far away from those who have so long witnessed 
and shared our prosperity." " There," replied my 
friend, placing his hand upon my shoulder, " there 
speaks the true John Bull ! Thus, alas ! it is, that 
thousands of her majesty's best subjects desert their 
native shores, because they cannot bear others to see 

B 2 



4 THE SAXON IN IRELAND. 

them sink in what is called the scale of respectability." 
" An Englishman,." replied I, " is in heart an aristocrat. 
He can endure poverty and want, he can labour and 
toil, he can bring up his family hardily ; but it must not, 
if possible, be in the sight of his old associates. His 
proud spirit recoils at what he conceives the public 
degradation of an old and honoured name." " It is, 
nevertheless, a foolish feeling, and there exists no real 
degradation in the matter," replied my friend ; " though 
I do not deny that these proud spirits form the very 
cream of our colonies. We can ill afford to spare these 
men, for with them we lose much of the loyalty and 
nationality of our country." 

' Better to bear those ills we have, 
Than fly to others that we know not of.' " 

"And so," exclaimed I, somewhat impatiently, "you 
would wish me to remain where I am, and, as a 
half-paid labourer of some new proprietor, to earn 
bread and water for my family, on those lands which 
should be their patrimony ? " "A case as yet very 
improbable. I certainly should wish to retain you 
here, if possible, under any condition," said the 
Curate kindly. " I can ill spare you, and the poor 
will be sufferers by the absence of one who was ever 
to them a liberal and sympathising neighbour. But 
if, as you say, that shall not be, we must submit. 
I. really, however, do not comprehend the necessity of 
your seeking your fortune at the antipodes. Will no- 
thing but New Zealand, or Australia, or icy Canada, or 
the burning Cape suit you ? Think of your wife and 
children — of the fatigues and dangers of a long voyage 
— of the little you can possibly know of the place in 
which you are to be located, and the thousand other 



INTRODUCTION. 5 

discomforts and disadvantages of an emigrant's career." 
" These difficulties, nevertheless, must be fairly met, for 
it is the alternative I have chosen. Better to die in the 
struggle for independence, than to live in hopeless debt. 
If I remain, I see no prospect of better times ; nay, I 
believe the worst is not yet come. The transition has 
been too violent, and I must yield. I feel most deeply 
all the evils you have depicted, but they must be under- 
gone. The only question now is, how far, by a judicious 
choice of settlement, it is possible to reduce them to the 
smallest limit. I have been thinking of Tasmania; a 
fine climate, the see of a bishop, and clear of aborigines." 
" Clear, indeed ! " echoed the Curate indignantly. " They 
hunted down those poor savages as if they were wild 
beasts, made a fashionable sport of shooting and maim- 
ing them, till, from sheer motives of humanity, the 
government interfered, drove the terrified remnant into 
a corner, and to save their lives transported them to a 
neighbouring island. They were but forty in number. 
Can that settlement ever prosper ? " " Well," said I, 
" what of Canada ? " " Six months' snow, and annexation 
to the grand republic in prospect — no, that will not 
do." " The Cape ? " " Hostile Boers, powerful and 
bloody Caffres, insubordination among the settlers — 
no ! " « New Zealand ? " < ' My dear friend, none of 
these will answer the purpose ; in none will you find 
anything like a substitute for what you are leaving. 
Were stern realities better known, many would pause 
and consider well ere they thus expatriated themselves. 
Once embarked, once arrived in the distant settlement, 
they have but one alternative, — to make the best of it. 
It is not easy to retrace a course of thousands of 
miles." A silence of some duration now ensued, till 

B 3 



6 THE SAXON IN IRELAND. 

the worthy Curate, as if struck with some sudden 
thought, turned sharply round to me, and said, with 
some little hesitation, " What — what do you think of 
Ireland ? — good land — healthy climate — estates to 
be had cheap." " Oh, my friend," replied I, " worse 
than all. Only think of the midnight attacks of armed 
ruffians — the abduction of females — the lifting of 
cattle — forcible abstraction of crops, — denunciations 
from the altar, and consequent murder — no, no, all 
this is too shocking to think of." " There is undoubt- 
edly something in what you say," replied the Curate ; 
" but still I have always observed that there is a pro- 
minence given to anything that can criminate or depress 
unhappy Ireland, which does not extend to other coun- 
tries, in themselves perhaps equally wretched and guilty. 
One would almost think that it was the interest of some 
parties there to magnify atrocities, and to multiply 
offences. There is scarcely a broken head at a faction 
fight which is not paraded in print, that it may rouse 
Saxon indignation, and be salved over by Saxon sym- 
pathy. I am really of opinion that the subject de- 
mands consideration. Let us retire into the house, for 
the dews are falling fast, and the shadows deepen in the 
valley; we can there discuss the matter, for I assure 
you there are points which demand your attention." 
" I have been much struck," continued my friend, after 
we had seated ourselves round the tea-table in the oak 
parlour, " with many of the details recently set forth by 
competent persons relative to the neglected capabilities 
of Ireland. Many sensible and truly practical articles 
have appeared in the public journals, calling the attention 
of Englishmen to the subject, and setting forth that the 
want of capital and enterprise are the main causes of all 



INTRODUCTION. 7 

the evils existing in that unhappy country. Political 
and religious feuds would soon lose much of their acri- 
mony, and the selfish designs of demagogues be abortive, 
if the social condition of the people was improved. It 
is an admixture of Saxon habits and feelings, and the 
importation of English capital, that Ireland requires ; 
and if one-tenth part of those enterprising men who are 
now pushing their fortunes amid the swamps of America, 
the forests of Canada, or the parched and boundless 
plains of Australia, had located themselves amid the 
rich vales and green hills of Erin, that land, instead of 
being as a millstone round the neck of the sister island, 
would have been her richest gem ; what Sicily was to Rome, 
or Anglesea to the ancient Briton. Remember what 
Cicero says, ( Ille M. Cato cellam pomariam reipublicse 
nostras et nutricem plebis Romanse Siciliam nominavit ; ' 
and Giraldus designates the ancient Mona in the Celtic 
tongue, ' Mon mam Cymbry, quod Latine son at, Mona 
Mater Cambriae.' With either of these islands, Erin may 
fairly compete, either as to the richness of its pastures 
or the fertility of the soil." " Agreeing," I replied, " in 
much that you so learnedly advance, still to me, and to 
my family also, there would be one insuperable objec- 
tion. We could bear the solitude of the backwoods of 
the Western Continent, or the chill air of Canada, or 
the sultry winds of South Africa ; but the poverty, the 
squalidness, the degradation of the lower orders in 
Ireland, as described by travellers, we could not endure 
to witness. The heartless proprietor of the soil, whether 
he call himself Celt or Milesian, may calmly view from 
the windows of his mansion, or the gates of his park, 
scenes of wretchedness elsewhere unknown or unsanc- 
tioned ; but the Saxon would not hesitate to sacrifice his 

B 4 



8 THE SAXON IN IEELAND. 

all, nay, even his life, in the endeavour to remedy such 
a fearful condition of society." " A very valid reason, 
then, surely for his settling in a land where his presence 
is so much required, and where so noble a field of use- 
fulness lies before him. Mark me, my friend. I do 
not credit a tithe of what is said against Ireland. There 
may be bad landlords, and hard and cruel task-masters ; 
but where are they not? It is idle to blame indi- 
viduals ; the social system of the country is rotten to 
the core ; it has grown up under misgovernment ; it 
must and will be altered ; and the day is not far distant, 
nay, it has already arrived, when the axe will be laid to 
the root of that tree, and a finer and fairer be planted 
in its stead. When we consider the progress of the 
human mind, can we doubt that Ireland will yet be 
righted ? Do not therefore decide too hastily. I will 
send you a few books and sundry documents to which I 
have alluded; look them over carefully, and without 
any of your John Bull prejudices, and then we can dis- 
cuss the subject with a better chance of arriving at a 
right decision. One great misfortune to Ireland has 
been, that the English seldom take the trouble to ac- 
quaint themselves with her real condition, or with what 
is excellent and useful in the character of her people. 
They are so much accustomed to look at the dark side 
of the matter, that the very existence of a bright side 
scarcely enters into their conceptions. The public mind, 
however, is awakening from this delusion, and a few 
years will witness great changes." 

All my few leisure hours were now devoted to books and 
documents, descriptive, statistical, and historical, on the 
subject of Ireland. Soon I became interested beyond 



INTRODUCTION. 9 

my expectation. Its whole history was one sad romance 

— the impatient struggles of a turbulent but generous 
people with a series of ignorant and oppressive govern- 
ments. Its statistics were suggestive of many deep 
thoughts and curious calculations. The descriptions of its 
fertility — its pastoral beauty and mountain grandeur — 
were most attractive ; and I deeply lamented that such a 
country — so near our own shores — so connected with 
us by every tie, should be alien if not hostile — a drag 
upon our prosperity — a perplexity to all governments 

— a help to none. 

" Well," said the Curate one fine evening as we re- 
sumed our seats under the accustomed tree, " what is 
the result of your studies and cogitations? Port Philip, 
Toronto, or Connemara 1 Since you must leave us, 
whither do you bend your steps, ' to avoid the slings and 
arrows of outrageous fortune ? " " My wife and chil- 
dren," replied I, " appear so anxious not to leave the 
old country, that I am strongly inclined to visit Ireland, 
and to form my own judgment both as to its state and 
capabilities," " Since you have so decided," said my 
friend cheerfully, " I prognosticate the result, and that 
after all we shall not entirely lose you. A voyage to 
Tasmania round Cape Horn is not to be thought of, 
much less undertaken more than once in a man's life ; 
but four and twenty hours, or less, will now convey you 
from London to Galway." It was decided that I should 
set out on my journey in another week, and at the 
earnest request of my friend, I promised to forward 
regular accounts of my proceedings, and to write off- 
hand such impressions as naturally arose from the scenes 
I witnessed, and the country through which I travelled. 

B 5 



10 THE SAXON IN IRELAND. 

" I doubt not," said the Curate, " that there will be in- 
consistencies apparent in your accounts of persons and 
things ; for as you proceed further, and observe and re- 
flect more, your feelings and sentiments will change. 
Be careful, however, to make no provision for this ; 
what you think at the moment, write down ; correct 
your views in future communications if you please. We 
shall soon discover how facts will act upon prejudices." 



11 



CHAPTER I. 

DUBLIN". — MULLINGAR. — TRAVELLER IN ORDERS. — GAL WAY. 
— GEOLOGY. CLIEFDEN. 

Imperial Hotel, Dublin. 

I arrived here safe and well this morning, and shall 
delay progress for a few days, in order to present my 
letters of introduction, and make necessary arrange- 
ments. The journey from London to Chester offers few 
objects of interest. The ancient church and castle of 
Stafford and the venerable towers of Beeston rising 
from a tall isolated cliff were exceptions. I saw nothing 
of Chester, the whilom stronghold of the De Lacies, 
nor yet of the Welch mountains, nor of the Britannia 
Bridge, nor the flat plains of Mona, except what the 
pale light of a waning moon, often obscured by clouds, 
chose to reveal. Arrived at Holyhead, the wind blew 
such a gale, that I found myself on board the small 
packet called rightly " the Vivid," with one other pas- 
senger only. The sea was high, and the wind in our 
teeth ; but, notwithstanding this, four hours and a half 
saw us safely landed at Kingstown. We were entering 
the Bay of Dublin when I went on deck. It was a 
glorious scene that burst upon me ! The sun, to us not 
yet risen, tipped the lofty and peaked summits of the 
Wicklow mountains with crimson. Kingstown, with its 
handsome houses and umbrageous terraces stretching 
along the shore, was before us; on our right, a 
bold and rocky promontory — the Hill of Howth ; 

B 6 



12 THE SAXON IN IEELAND. Chap. L 

while, to the westward, ranges of distant mountains closed 
the scene. Surely few kingdoms on the earth can boast 
such a portal — such an approach as this. We were 
soon alongside of the pier, and in a few minutes I trod 
on Irish ground — " perhaps," thought I, "the land of 
my adoption." Anon, there was no doubt of its being 
Ireland. The pure brogue, the peculiar intonation, 
admitted no doubt. Three or four lusty porters seized 
my luggage. " "Where will these go, plase your honour ? 
Where will we carry them all to for your honour ? To 
the Station sure, or to the Royal Hotel, is it?" &c. &c. 
Dublin is a fine city at first sight, and exceeded my ex- 
pectations. The public buildings, the streets, the shops, 
the hotels, all striking and handsome, and there was a 
busy, bustling manner about the people, I thought, which 
spoke of commercial activity. I found, the parties with 
whom I conversed intelligent and well informed, and a 
spirit of civility and kindness seemed to pervade all 
classes. The public buildings are generally on a 
large — I had almost said, an exaggerated scale. I 
visited the Custom House, the Bank, Trinity College, 
&c. &c, and was well pleased with every thing I saw, 
save the crowded and filthy purlieus of this otherwise 
fine city. Here was my first glimpse of the national 
failing. In England such sordid wretchedness could 
not exist, at least to so lamentable an extent ; the rich 
would not suffer it, and the poor would not endure it. 



From Dublin I proceeded to Mullingar by an excel- 
lent railway. The carriages were clean and commodious, 
and the arrangements generally were superior to those of 
some of our great English lines. We passed close by 



Chap. I. DESOLATION OF THE COUNTRY. 13 

Maynooth. The Royal College of St. Patrick is an ex- 
tensive building of plain but appropriate architecture, 
and surrounded by a large extent of gardens and grounds. 
Near the entrance to the college are the massive ruins of 
the ancient castle of the Fitzgeralds of Leinster. The 
country through which we passed was otherwise of little 
interest. We had entered the great limestone basin, 
which occupies the greater portion of the centre of the 
island, and the country was sometimes bare and rocky, 
seldom exhibiting any striking variety of surface. From 
Mullingar, public and private conveyances are at hand 
to take the traveller to any part of the west or north 
of Ireland. I took the Galway mail, and securing the 
box-seat, alongside an intelligent and communicative 
coachman, had a pleasant and not unprofitable drive. 
Even from my first day's journey, I can perceive that, in 
speaking of Ireland, it is impossible to speak of it as a 
whole. In every barony, almost in every townland, you 
witness fertility and barrenness, cultivation and neglect. 
One might fancy the character of the proprietor written 
in the countenances and garb of his tenantry — the 
state of their habitations, and the. treatment of their 
land. Too often do we read the sad story of neglect. 
And yet, as we travel along, it is evident that in earlier 
days the country was occupied by a better and more 
prosperous class of inhabitants. Many a fertile tract, 
now desolate, exhibits numerous remains of large mo- 
nastic institutions — of strong castles and embattled 
mansions. Towns once large and populous, and giving 
their names to counties, are now sunk to inconsiderable 
villages; and numerous churches now rootless, and 
standing solitary on the waste, proclaim the sad history 
of villages destroyed, and a population exterminated. 



14 THE SAXON IN IRELAND. Chap. I. 

We know that in the 7th and 8th centuries, Ireland was 
the seat of learning, and occupied by a powerful and 
comparatively civilised people : nor does it require much 
observation to perceive, that even at a much later period 
her condition was far more prosperous than it is at 
present. The ancient state of the island was strictly 
feudal. The proprietors of the soil were powerful and 
arbitrary, but their interests prompted them also to 
be kind and liberal to their dependants. As these ties 
became relaxed, society no longer held together. A 
wretched system began to prevail ; absenteeism became 
general ; large properties were leased out to middle men, 
who again relet them to others, till the subdivisions at 
length became so minute, as barely to allow a sufficiency 
of sustenance to the wretched and over-rented tenant. 
It was thus that the habits of the people became de- 
graded, their spirits broken, till at length this fine 
country presents to the eye of the astonished and indig- 
nant stranger, scenes of human misery and squalid 
poverty unequalled in the civilised world. " If such 
are your feelings now," said a fellow-traveller to whom 
I ventured to express my surprise at the miserable 
cabins we were continually passing, " what will they be 
when you go further west ? But, sir," continued he 
with a firmness of tone and manner that showed he at 
least thought his argument was final and irrefragable, 
" custom, after all, is every thing. They have their 
comforts within those smoky turf walls ; as well as your 
pampered, bacon-feedkig Englishman in his cottage with 
a brick chimney and a sash-window to boot. As they 
don't complain of their accommodation, I can't think 
what other people have to do with it." " Just so much," 
replied I, " that men who live so like mere animals 



Chap. I. TRAVELLER IN ORDERS. 15 

must have degraded minds. The total absence of clean- 
liness, comfort, and decency of apparel, must have a 
deteriorating moral influence. It was never the inten- 
tion of the Omnipotent to see His creature thus lowered 
in the scale of creation. Look at that wretched hovel 
there, low down in the bog. Its walls of mere turf — 
its roof scanty, and any thing but weather-tight — no 
chimney — no window — a narrow, low door serving 
all purposes. Again ; see those half-naked, half-starved, 
squalid children, famine attenuating their limbs, and 
their sallow skins engrained with smoke and dirt. How 
they throng the door ; while the pig, fat and sleek, and 
reserved, I suppose, for the rent-day, pushes his nose 
out of the same portal, as if asserting an equal right to 
be there. And yonder comes the mother, carefully 
picking her way over the plashy bog, her back bent 
double with the large load of turf she is bringing to her 
sad home. There, too, follows the husband — no 
shoes — no stockings — his breeches loose at the 
knees — the tail of his long, grey coat tucked up under 
his arm — his face pallid and care-worn — and though 
not advanced in years, yet old in sorrow. Alas, alas ! 
sir, how can you look upon all this, and say that we 
have nothing to do with it ? How can we reconcile 
such sights as these with the Scripture account of man's 
creation ? ' God created man in His own image, in the 
image of God created He him.' " My neighbour re- 
turned no direct answer, but mumbling to himself 
something about "meddling busybodies," declined re- 
newing the conversation. At the next stage he left us, 
and, on inquiry, I found he was " in orders." As 
yet I had not reached the point where my agricultural 
researches were to commence ; therefore, as we drove 



16 THE SAXON IN IRELAND. Chap. I. 

along, I rather speculated upon the condition of the 
people, the state of the roads, inns, and towns, &c, 
than on the properties or appearance of the land. I 
saw, however, many fine tracts, particularly in West- 
meath and Roscommon, and there appeared an abun- 
dance of stock in some parts of an excellent description. 
An air of slovenliness, however, pervades every thing. 
Sometimes two heavy stone piers gave symptoms of a 
gate ; but no, a few briers, a fir pole, or a blackened 
piece of bog-wood, supplied the deficiency. A broken 
wall, a useless bank, a shallow ditch, these gene- 
rally form the boundaries ; efficient fences I scarcely saw 
any. And yet some of the grass-lands were rich beyond 
measure, fattening out bullocks and sheep, I was told, 
on the herbage alone. The extensive and ever-recurring 
bogs that pervade this extraordinary country have, you 
may be assured, attracted much of my attention ; but I 
reserve any remarks upon them till I have opportunities 
of closer observation. At Athlone, so full of historical 
reminiscences, we crossed the mighty Shannon. As a 
military post, this town disappointed me. The castle is 
situated on comparatively low ground ; and the various 
entrenchments and earthen works, of which I had read 
so much, do not stand out conspicuously, though I sup- 
pose they are strong and well arranged, and appear to 
occupy a large space. We dined at Ballinasloe, where I 
had the pleasure of meeting with Lord , a con- 
siderable proprietor in Roscommon. He kindly afforded 
me as much local information as time would permit. 
"With this town I was agreeably surprised, particularly 
after the unattractive country we had passed through 
from Athlone. Here my eye again rested, after a long 
interval, upon respectable houses, clean cottages, and 



Chap. 1. GAL WAY. 17 

pretty gardens. The Earl of Clancarty is the great 
proprietor here, and long may he so continue. He has 
afforded an example to the other great men of his 
country, of what a real patriot may accomplish. My 
sinking spirits revived again ; I felt what could be 
done, and that Ireland was not incorrigible. This town 
is the great mart for the neighbouring districts; the 
largest fair in Ireland is annually held here, and consi- 
derable numbers of cattle and sheep are disposed of. 
Lord Clancarty liberally opens his park for the purpose 
of exhibiting the stock ; and here, as at one centre, the 
graziers and breeders of three of the provinces are 
accustomed to meet. The country around the town is 
well cultivated, and every thing bespeaks the residence 
of an enlightened and spirited proprietor. O si sic 
omnes I 



Gal way is an old town ; a kind of Seville, as a traveller 
asserts. " I found here," says he, " the sculptured 
gateways and grotesque architecture, which carried the 
imagination to the Moorish cities of Granada and 
Valencia." It is, I believe, certain that Spain for many 
ages carried on a considerable trade with this place, and, 
judging from the improved physical appearance of the 
tribes of the West, it is not improbable that Spanish blood 
has here largely intermingled with the Celtic. The hotels 
are both below mediocrity, and I was surprised to find 
in the capital of the "West such inferior and slovenly 
accommodation. As my tour in quest of a new home 
was to commence here, I staid several days, and made 
many inquiries as to the place itself, and also the regions 
I was about to visit. Galway has a rather phoenix- 



18 THE SAXON IN IRELAND. Chap. I. 

like appearance — an appearance, that is, of prosperity, 
gradually, but very gradually, rising out of ruin. Its 
suburbs, however, are miserable. For the purposes of 
commerce, internal and external, Galway has few rivals 
in this or any other country. In the south it possesses 
one of the finest bays in the world, offering a nearer 
communication with the continent of America. On the 
north it will shortly communicate, by means of a broad 
canal, with the expansive waters of Lough Corrib ; and, 
after a second canal is finished, by Cong into Lough 
Mask, there will be opened into the interior of the 
country a still-water navigation of nearly forty miles in 
length ; and thousands of acres of fertile land, hitherto 
almost unproductive, will be brought into contiguity 
with good markets. Lough Corrib is twenty-seven miles 
long, and covers nearly 50,000 statute acres. It contains 
numerous fertile islands, and a coast sixty miles in ex- 
tent. Lough Mask, with the smaller Lough Carra, 
covers about 25,000 acres, and is in length about ten 
miles. It is impossible to glance at the map, and not to 
acknowledge the grandeur and vast utility of this design ; 
and my mind is so impressed with it, that my first object 
will be to make a tour of observation in these districts. 
In the position of Galway itself, I repeat, are all the 
materials for the creation of a city of the first magnitude 
and importance. The enlightened statesmen who now 
sway the destinies of this fair portion of the queen's 
dominions cannot be insensible to the fact, or negligent 
in doing all they can to realise it. 



I started this morning on my tour of observation, and 
the aspect of the heavens seemed to favour my project, 



Chap. I. THE IRISH NOT NATURALLY IDLE. 19 

for the sky was clear, and a gentle refreshing breeze 
came from the west. Taking the road that skirts the 
western shores of Lough Corrib, I paused to watch the 
operations of many gangs of labourers, who were exca- 
vating the large and deep canal, which, as I have before 
remarked, is to admit vessels of considerable burden 
from the Bay of Galway into the furthest recesses of 
Loughs Corrib and Mask. As I stood watching these 
hardy labourers destroying those barriers which nature 
had so long opposed to progress, I was convinced of the 
injustice of one complaint brought against the Irish by 
their Saxon neighbours, — I allude to the charge of 
idleness. To see those poor fellows work in the midst 
of water and mud, and in the face of the hardest rock, 
at once convinced me that it was neither the want of 
thews and sinews, nor yet of the spirit of industry, that 
was the cause of those social evils, which had already so 
affected me during my short progress. That the Irish- 
man can work, and work well ; that he will be indus- 
trious where there is the proper stimulus and reward, I 
cannot but believe, as I look upon the spectacle now 
before me. And then so cheerful withal ! It afforded 
a strange, nay more, a favourable contrast to the rude 
independence, and burly, reckless manner of our English 
navvies. The more I consider these vast works — these 
enlightened plans of the legislature — the more am I con- 
vinced of their wisdom, and of their enlarged philan- 
thropy. The opening out of these fine districts is the 
most effective preliminary step that could be taken for 
the regeneration of Ireland. Practical efforts like these 
are worth whole tomes of legal enactments, and will do 
more towards ultimate tranquillity than fifty regiments 
of soldiers. A new stimulus will thus be given, the 



20 THE SAXON IN IRELAND. Chap. I. 

time will not be long ere capital flows in, and the keen 
glance of speculation discovers new and abundant sources 
of profit and remuneration. Easy communication will 
assist the distribution of capital, will introduce improved 
modes of culture and arts of living, will undermine 
prejudices, and ere long unite the various portions of the 
empire by a nearer assimilation of language, habits, and 
pursuits. That the government which adopted this 
policy towards Scotland a hundred years ago should 
have overlooked it towards Ireland is surprising. These 
thoughts passed through my mind as, standing on an 
eminence, my eye ranged over the seemingly interminable 
waters of Corrib to the north, the beautiful Bay of 
Galway to the south, and the ancient but decayed 
capital of the west at my feet. The sight cheered me. 
I could not but feel what I now prophesy : that, under 
Providence, a better day is opening upon this hitherto 
neglected district. "Man proposes, God disposes;" 
but there can be no doubt, humanly speaking, that the 
proper measures have been at last adopted, after cen- 
turies of blundering and misrule. While gazing on 
the interesting scene before me, a large and handsome 
building stood out conspicuously, a little apart from the 
city. On enquiry I found it was one of the new col- 
leges, erected according to the government plan of 
simultaneous education. I know too little of the merits 
of the case to be able to pronounce any judgment as to 
the probability of ultimate success. The scheme will 
certainly have a better chance, when, by a more extended 
communication with the world without, party prejudices 
are softened down or extinguished. Efforts like these, 
however, whether well or ill devised, afford a gratifying 



Chap. I. THE COUNTRY ROUND GAL WAY. 21 

proof that the attention of our rulers is called to the 
lamentable condition of the people, and that they are 
earnest in their endeavours at amelioration. Leaving 
the suburbs of Galway, and passing several villas on the 
right, I emerged into a gently undulating country, pre- 
senting a gradual subsidence from the high granite 
district of the south-west to the shores of Lough Corrib. 
These were flat at first, comprehending the Dangan and 
MenloghBogs, which are covered with the waters of the 
lake in winter, and even now showed evident marks of this 
encroachment. I examined this tract the more attentively, 
inasmuch as its nearness to the city of Gralway was a par- 
ticularly promising and attractive feature to the investor. 
The low flat, close upon the lake, is so full of quagmires 
and holes, and presents so little fall for the water, that one 
glance satisfies the eye as to its want of capability. But 
more to the west improvable portions appear. On the 
upper grounds, or slopes, any quantity of good limestone 
gravel may be procured ; and, with proper draining and 
banking, these lands may be converted into productive 
meadow. It is a remarkable fact, that Nature appears 
to have pointed out, and indeed assisted materially, the 
capability of these extensive wastes for cultivation. At 
convenient distances, long ridges of limestone gravel will 
frequently occur, which being applied as a surface dress- 
ing to the peat produces an almost immediate beneficial 
effect. One method of applying this gravel is ingenious, 
particularly on the flat, wet lands. It is as follows : — 
take a level line from one bank to the other : along 
this line cut a canal in the bog, about three feet deep, in 
which, filled with water from the surrounding bog, a flat 
T^oat may be used; and this, with the assistance of 



22 THE SAXON IN IKELAND. Chap. I. 

parallel canals, will convey gravel from the banks to 
every part of the intervening land. Seven miles from 
Galway I passed Danesfield, the beautiful seat of 
P. M. Burke, Esq. ; and, further on, Knockbane, belong- 
ing to Anthony O 'Flaherty, Esq., M. P. ; also Ross, the 
property of James Martin, Esq. The country here 
becomes more picturesque. Every variety of timber 
seems to thrive. Hundreds of acres however, now wet 
and barren, might be profitably planted with the smaller 
aquatics ; and copsewood, so valuable for many purposes, 
would thrive on the dry knolls and slopes. Ross Lake 
is detached, very pretty and irregular in its shape, and 
has no visible outlet. Between this lough and Corrib 
is an extensive waste, known as the Bog of Ross and 
Moycullen, easily reclaimable, having a good fall into both 
lakes, and abundant ridges of limestone gravel and sand. 
Passing onwards I visited the highly improvable town- 
land of Shrue, projecting into Lough Corrib, and which, 
with much adjoining land, is the property of the Martin 
family of Ballinahinch. In this neighbourhood, and on 
the same estate, I also examined some valuable quarries 
of marble. The general state, however, of the agriculture 
is wretched ; and though the natural advantages of this 
district, and particularly its proximity to Galway and 
the lake, are palpable, yet there are difficulties equally 
apparent, which nothing but the most determined per- 
severance could overcome. The wretched population is 
thickly scattered, gleaning a precarious and scanty sub- 
sistence from lands which, managed on scientific prin- 
ciples, might bring plenty and remunerative employment 
to every family. Passing over the river Killegnell by a 
natural bridge, I observed the ancient stronghold of the 
O 'Flaherties on my right (Aughnanure Castle), and on 



Chap. I. GEOLOGICAL STATISTICS. 23 

the banks of the stream many acres of land, easily 
convertible into rich meadow. Soon afterwards I entered 
Oughterard. This is a good town for Ireland, possess- 
ing a tolerable inn, a post-office, church, chapel, with a 
daily mail to Cliefden and Galway, and a communication 
with the latter place and Cong by the waters of Lough 
Corrib. It will also probably be a steam-packet station 
when the communication is opened to Galway Bay and 
Lough Mask. The geological structure of a country 
has in reality so much to do with its agricultural capa- 
bilities, that in my next letter I purpose to give you 
some general information on the subject. In my ob- 
servations I took the report of that eminent engineer, 
Mr. Alexander Nimmo, for my guide, and I can bear 
testimony to the general accuracy of his statements. 



The country westward of Lough Corrib, geologically 
speaking, has three divisions. Drawing a line from 
Galway to Oughterard, and from Oughterard through the 
island of Inchagoil to Cong, you trace the boundary of 
that great limestone field which occupies so considerable 
a portion of the interior of the island, and to the natural 
verdure always produced on this formation it owes its 
name of " the Emerald Isle." Again draw a line from 
Oughterard to the Bay of Ardbear, and south of this, 
reaching to the sea-coast, is what is called very properly 
the great granite " moor." This district is in many 
parts extremely wild and barren, being frequently 
covered with large boulders of granite, in others with 
interminable bogs of various depths. It contains little 
or no limestone, but its numerous bays afford large and 
inexhaustible banks of shell and coral sand, which, 



24 THE SAXON IN IRELAND. Chap. I. 

added to the great abundance of sea-weed, render its 
partial cultivation more easy and probable. I say par- 
tial, because there are large tracts which it would be a 
farce to talk of reclaiming with profit, being little else 
at present than fields of bare rock. I do not think that 
the decomposition of the granite affords so productive a 
soil as some other formations ; such, for instance, as the 
mica slate. In seeking for a new settlement, therefore, 
I give a decided preference to the limestone and mica 
slate districts ; and, for this reason, I shall for the present 
pass over this portion of Connemara, merely remarking 
that, from the reasons above stated, the cultivation of 
the soil is principally confined to the sea-coast. West 
of Galway Town, as far as Cashla Bay, many patches of 
mere thin red bog upon bare granite have been, by the 
application of sea manure, rendered available for the 
production of crops of every description ; even a wheat 
field is no uncommon sight. The interior of this district 
contains that vast tract of bog and moor, extending 
over 50,000 acres, known by the name of " Sillermore." 
It is rocky and uneven, but seldom rises into hills, if we 
except the northern corner near Learn. On the Ferbagh 
and Spiddal rivers there still exist patches of scrubby 
wood, which perhaps point out the only proper use to 
which much of this tract could be applied. To the 
northward of this great granite moor runs a kind of 
central vale, extending from Oughterard to Ardbear 
Bay, and containing a chain of beautiful lakes, which 
probably, in a more advanced social state, may be ren- 
dered available for opening out the interior of the 
country, and connecting it with Lough Corrib. In this 
geological division are found numerous veins of lime- 
stone, in general of a good kind, and so admirably dis- 



Chap. I. GEOLOGICAL STATISTICS. 25 

tributed that most of the farms either possess limestone, 
or are sufficiently near the limestone strata to render it 
available. It is worthy of remark, also, that many of 
these lime rocks are situated on those long and deep 
lakes already mentioned, so that the facility of transport 
thus afforded will at some future period be of great im- 
portance to this district. The greater portion of it, 
which is the property of the Martins of Ballinahinch, is 
.now on sale ; and many of the lots, whether in a mineral 
or agricultural point of view, present peculiar induce- 
ments to the capitalist for investment. The Hill of 
Glann, which skirts one of the arms of Lough Corrib, 
exhibits in a small compass the various formations which 
occur in this district. The western side is composed of 
quartz, the north-east is mica slate, the middle is pene- 
trated in a winding manner by beds of mica slate also, 
but containing hornblende and granular limestone 
covered by thick beds of pyritous greenstone. On the 
south and east are granite and syenite, which run under 
the sandstone conglomerate towards Oughterard, The 
district of which we are now speaking extends westward 
from Oughterard to the Bay of Ardbear, and from Coug, 
at the head of Lough Corrib, to the Bay of Ballinakill. 
It includes the mountainous tract called Benbeola, or 
the Twelve Pins — mountains which skirt the romantic 
Glen Inagh, the hills of Joyce's Country, and those lower 
ridges extending from the Twelve Pins to Cliefden. All 
these divisions you will readily trace on the map. 

To the north of this line, which we have drawn from 
Cong to Ballinakill, no calcareous matter is to be found, 
nor does Killery Bay produce the shell or coral sand. 
The Bay of Ballinakill, however, abounds in both, and 
has abundance of limestone among its rocks, which is 

c 



26 THE SAXON IN IRELAND. Chap. I. 

easily obtainable. Advancing northward, the same want 
of limestone pervades the Barony of Morisk as far as 
Clew Bay. At Westport, however, limestone again 
oecurs, and is carried on the backs of horses many miles 
into the interior. I have been thus particular in de- 
scribing the general geological features of this part of 
Ireland, as it is of the utmost importance to the settler, 
inasmuch as it not only must regulate his mode of cul- 
ture, but considerably augments or diminishes the value 
of the lands he may wish to purchase. 



Departing from my original intention of first making 

a circuit of the shores of Lough Corrib, I took a car 

from Oughterard and proceeded to Cliefden, along the 

great valley of Connemara. The English traveller here 

finds himself in a country which in its peculiar features 

has no parallel in his own. Lake follows lake in rapid 

succession; mountains rise up on every side, sometimes 

in ridges, sometimes in groups, sometimes standing out 

singly. Where the hills recede, extensive bogs slope 

gently to the borders of the lakes, affording good falls 

for drainage; while, on the rocky sides of the mountains, 

fair pasture may be found for innumerable flocks of 

sheep. After skirting the shores of Lough Bofin, we 

reach the Lake of Ardeherry, near to which, on the right 

hand, is the Hill of Glann before mentioned. The 

scenery here is peculiarly interesting. On the right, 

enclosed by precipitous mountains, we see one of the 

arms of Lough Corrib ; before us is the chain of hills 

around Derryclare ; and to the left, the dreary ridge of 

Leam and Glentrasna and the Hill of Commas. Urid 



Chap. I. VISIT TO CLIEFDEN. 27 

also, which occupies the head of Kilkerran Bay, rose 
far to the south, at least so I conjectured; but with so 
wide an extent of country before me, and no one near 
upon whom I could rely for trustworthy information, I 
do not pretend to accuracy. Shindela is a sweet lake, 
its waters bright, and its islands woody. At the western 
extremity of this lough stands the Half-way House, or 
Flynn's, a small inn, well known and often described 
by travellers. Here I was delayed several hours much 
to my chagrin, as I was anxious to continue my journey 
of investigation. Mrs. Flynn's daughter, now Mrs. 
King, is a pleasing specimen of the fine race of people 
who inhabit these romantic wilds, and who certainly, 
both in face and figure, bear but little resemblance to 
the Celtic family. Rambling around the house, I dis- 
covered a rock of limestone protruding from the side of 
the road, which induced me to wander further towards 
the base of the opposite mountain ; but no more was to 
be found ; and I am given to understand, that there is 
no limestone to the north of Shindela Lake till you 
reach the Yale of Bealnabrack, westward of the head of 
Lough Corrib. Leaving Flynn's, the scenery becomes 
more and more interesting every mile as you advance. 
Skirting the shores of Lough Oorid we soon arrive at 
the Bridge of Derryneen, and thence crossing the river 
Owentooey reach the Lake of Garroman. Here a road 
to the right leads to the isolated hill of Coolnacarton, 
which no traveller who values the sublime and pictur- 
esque should pass unvisited. Though this hill is not a 
thousand feet in height, it commands a view of lakes, 
rivers, plains, vales, and mountains such as, in extent 
and beauty, is rarely to be met with. The romantic 
and secluded vale of Lough Inagh, or Ina, is at its foot; 

c 2 



28 THE SAXON IN IRELAND. Chap. I. 

On the south side of this valley, a naked perpendicular 
rock rises to the height of 1200 feet, and over it falls a 
considerable stream into the lake below. This hill is 
also well worthy the attention of the geologist. It is 
composed radically of quartz, but, on the west side, are 
found cliffs of mica slate in horizontal beds. Here is 
also a remarkable and elevated vein of limestone, under 
which is some green serpentine and a broad vein of 
granite, having a westward direction. The southern 
parts exhibit hornblende and hornblende porphyry. 
From Lough Garroman till you reach the brook which 
parts the Martin and D'Arcy properties, every step is 
full of interest, particularly as you approach Ballyna- 
hinch. As, however, my intention is to observe upon 
the agricultural capabilities rather than the picturesque 
beauties of the scenes through which I pass, I will 
hasten forwards. The approach to the newly founded 
town of Cliefden is striking, and the situation seems 
well chosen, but the immediate neighbourhood struck 
me as extremely barren and unpromising. An un- 
clouded sun at that moment darted its rays upon the 
bare rocks, and there was a clearness in the atmosphere 
by no means favourable to this description of scenery. 
To my eye, however, Cliefden was full of interest. It 
exhibits the bold and patriotic attempt of one individual 
to benefit and enrich the country, where lay at once his 
property and his responsibilities. It was a courageous 
effort to develop single-handed those many capabilities 
which Providence had supplied ; and if such a man as 
Mr. D'Arcy has failed in his object, he has secured at 
least the admiration and respect of his fellow-country- 
men, and has well deserved that support which is too often 
given to less meritorious designs. That such support, 



Chap. I. CLIEFDEN. 29 

however, has not been given, ' and that Mr. D'Arcy's 
scheme has not succeeded to the extent either of his 
wishes or his deserts, I fear we may conclude from the 
fact, that the whole property is now on sale, under the 
Encumbered Estates Act. It was a powerful sympathy 
that drew me to Cliefden : patriotism — intelligence — 
moral courage, whatever may be the cause, unrequited 
by success ! Particulars I cannot enter into, for I know 
them not : I merely see the effort, and witness the re- 
sult. Cliefden has much the air of a foreign town, as 
seen from the surrounding heights, but particularly as 
you approach it over the romantic bridge which spans 
the Owenglen River. I was surprised to see so many 
good houses in an Irish town. The streets are spacious 
and well laid out, and a narrow, navigable inlet from 
Ardbear Bay washes the rock on which it is situated. 
I was told of good land here ; but I confess I did not 
see any great extent; and a bird's-eye view of the 
country from a neighbouring eminence satisfied me that 
it would not answer the purpose I had in view. It is 
not, however, in this light that we should look upon 
Cliefden. It is built for a trading, not for an agricultural, 
community; and I cannot doubt but that its importance 
will increase as the interior resources of the country 
become more developed. It is well situated both for 
export and import. I cannot do better than copy what 
Sir Robert Kane has written on this subject in his ad- 
mirable work on the " Industrial Resources of Ireland." 
He says, " The town of Cliefden and the surrounding 
country were, in 1815, in such a state of seclusion, that 
they contributed no revenue whatever to the state ; and, 
up to 1822, the agriculture was so imperfect, that 
scarcely a stone of oats could be got. In 1836, Cliefden 

c 3 



30 THE SAXON IN IEELAND. Chap. I. 

had become an export town, having sent out 800 tons of 
oats, and it produced to the revenue annually 7000/. 
From the expenditure in Connaught of 160,000/. upon 
public works in seven years, the increase of annual 
revenue derivable from the province has become equal 
to the entire amount so expended. This should not be 
called a grant of money, but the investment of capital 
with the realisation of enormous profits. An individual 
would most gladly advance the money if he were allowed 
to appropriate a fourth of the returns : such sums, 
therefore, should not be looked upon as boons, or 
favours, as they too frequently are, but as a part of the 
ordinary duties of a government." It is impossible not 
to accord with the truth of this sentiment. On the 
morning after my arrival at Cliefden, I took a walk over 
the heights to inspect Cliefden Castle, the residence of 
Mr. D'Arcy. As I entered the park, I saw how busily 
the hand of improvement had been at work ; a melan- 
choly feeling stole over me, and my deepest sympathy 
was, you will allow, very naturally excited. As in my 
own case, so here, I felt the truth of that sentiment of 
the wise author of Ecclesiastes, which I have before 
quoted : " I looked on all the works that my hands had 
wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do ; 
and behold all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and 
there was no profit under the sun." And so this park 
now so verdant — these woods now so flourishing (con- 
sidering their proximity to the wild Atlantic) are the 
creation of not more than five and twentyyears ! Pre- 
vious to that period it was mere rock, moorland, and 
bog. To see such efforts so far crowned with success, is 
at least cheering to him who seeks a home amid the 
untamed regions of Nature. It shows what can be done ; 



Chap. I. CLIEFDEN CASTLE. 31 

and if the design was too great, and the object too 
extensive for the powers and means of an unassisted 
individual, still such facts do not interfere with the 
conviction, that the power is there ; the capabilities do 
exist, and may be brought out, and perhaps profitably, 
if on a narrower and less speculative scale. The castle 
is what is usually called a Gothic edifice, seated 
pleasantly on a lawn sloping to the Bay of Ardbear, and 
backed by woods of very creditable growth. Beyond 
the bay is the broad Atlantic. The view was indeed 
beautiful, but a melancholy stillness pervaded the 
whole. Not a ship — nay, not a boat was to be seen. 
The blue waves broke upon the shore unvaried by any 
tokens of human existence. Under the idea that the 
house was deserted, I entered a spacious hall ; then a 
room, in which, close to the window, was a harp, be- 
tokening at any rate recent occupation. Alas ! thought 
I, melancholy doubtless were the last strains that pro- 
ceeded from those strings. I crossed the hall f and entered 
another room ; it was yet early ; the windows were 
open, and a gentle breeze had sprung up from the sea. 
The table in the centre exhibited preparations for the 
morning meal. I therefore made good my retreat, 
fearing lest some of the family were resident, perhaps 
still lingering to the last moment, amid scenes that must 
naturally be so dear to them. For my part I could 
only too well comprehend the feelings with which the 
proprietor of this beautiful spot would cast his eyes for 
the last time upon this his own creation, if, indeed, he 
was still the resident here. He found it a morass, he 
left it a lovely oasis amid the desert which still surrounds 
it. Every yard of earth, every tree had its history. The 
house, the verdant lawns, the shady woods, and thick 

c 4 



32 THE SAXON IN IKELAND. Chap. I. 

shrubberies were all planned and executed by him; 
years of thought and anxious toil had passed over his 
head ; and now that the results began to be developed in 
all their beauty and completeness, he was obliged to 
quit the scene of many proud and happy days, and leave 
to strangers the enjoyment of his labours. Alas ! Mr. 
D'Arcy's case is no uncommon one either in Ireland or 
in the sister country. Returning to Cliefden, I again 
perambulated the town ; but there was no stir of 
business apparent. I was the only guest at the inn, 
and an air of neglect and dulness seemed to pervade the 
place. The circumstances in which this property was 
now placed may have had some effect in producing these 
symptoms of decay. As I drove out of the town, on my 
road to Leenane, I felt a relief which I cannot well 
explain. 



33 



CHAP. II. 

VALE OP KYLEMORE. — WESTPORT. 

As all I had hitherto seen of improvements in Ire- 
land was on the same large scale as at Ballinahinch and 
Cliefden, I anticipated more than usual pleasure from 
my present tour ; for I was informed that the country 
through which I was about to travel was not only 
among the most picturesque in the island, but also 
one in which several " foreigners " had already settled, 
and more were expected to follow. Leaving Cliefden 
by a north-western direction, we ascended a road scarped 
from the side of a mountain, and exhibiting a stratum 
here and there of limestone much resembling that in the 
marble quarries near Oughterard. Streamstown Bay, a 
long narrow inlet from the Atlantic, with its wild and 
dreary coast, once famed as the resort of smugglers, was 
visible on the left ; on our right, the lofty peaks of the 
Benbeola Mountains soon rose boldly to our view. I 
will not attempt to give any detailed description of this 
day's journey ; suffice it to say, that in grandeur, love- 
liness, and romantic wildness, it certainly exceeded any- 
thing I had hitherto seen. There is something which I 
cannot exactly describe in the scenery of these remote 
parts of Ireland, that strikes the imagination far more 
than what are called elsewhere mere mountain districts 
however picturesque. The component parts of the land- 
scape appear to be arranged differently ; the mountains 
are not huddled together, but stand out in such bold 
relief, sometimes singly, sometimes in fantastic groups, 

c 5 



34 THE SAXON IN IRELAND. Chap. II. 

throwing their hare rocky peaks upwards to the sky, and 
exhibiting on their sides huge masses of rock, and dark 
clefts, and over-hanging precipices, it is fearful even to 
look upon. After crossing an extensive moor, which 
had the aspect of being easily reclaimable, we began to 
descend rapidly towards the head of Ballinakill Bay; and 
here I stopped to observe the improvements now effecting 
on the property of Mr. Butler, of Moyard. Everything 
here showed the hand of an improver. The house, 
newly built, is pleasantly situated on a gentle rise, and 
betokens a more than common share of good arrange- 
ment and comfort within. The lands around were 
manifestly in a state of transition, and I could not but 
admire the persevering industry that was converting one 
of the most impracticable slopes I ever saw into a cre- 
ditable farm ; removing huge holders, paring and burn- 
ing the red bog ; surface-draining, scarifying, hedging, 
ditching, and walling, with a spirit that does infinite credit 
to the proprietor. As I saw all this enacting before me, I 
fancied that I could read my own history. Feeling that 
the process was a tedious and expensive one, I conceived 
the greatest desire to see the balance of the debtor and 
creditor sides in Mr. Butler's account-book. When an 
improver is certain that the prices of his produce will 
ultimately remunerate his outlay, he goes to work with 
spirit, and can well afford to satisfy those by whose 
labour he extracts substantial benefits from the hitherto 
unproductive soil. But on what terms ought he, in the 
present state of the market, either to purchase or rent 
such lands as those I saw before me, if he expects 
to live, to say nothing of ultimate profit? Would it 
be prudent for him to make the outlay, if the land 
was actually given to him ? These reflections forced 
themselves upon my mind, and I could not but feel that 



Chap. II. VALE OF KYLEMOKE. 35 

if a government would see its people prosperous, its 
waste lands cultivated, and its capital and enterprise 
fully employed, there must be remunerating prices 
to the investor. But the present prices, though low, 
may be made remunerating, if every outgoing expense 
be reduced proportionably ? True, thought I; but is 
that possible ? — only, if the present financial position 
of the country is changed ; if the incubus of debt as 
reduced, and the English or Irish agriculturist is so 
placed, that he can bring his produce into the mar- 
ket with the certainty at least of securing an equal 
profit with the foreigner. Near Mr. Butler's house is a 
pretty waterfall, and my postboy informed me that, on 
an opposite knoll, a new church was about to be built. 
It is delightful to see religion and cultivation thus pro- 
gressing hand in hand. A little further, at Barnaderg, 
we stopped about half an hour. It is situated at the 
head of a considerable inlet of Ballinakill Bay ; and the 
fine mountain of Molloge, or, as it is generally named, 
from the beautiful crystals it produces, the Diamond 
Mountain, towers boldly above to the eastward. An 
active young urchin, who employed his leisure hours 
in robbing the dangerous clefts and precipices of these 
treasures, offered me a large quantity for the small sum 
of one shilling. Proceeding onwards, I passed by the 
several domains of Mr. Nelson, Mr. Graham, and Mr. 
Ellis, all new settlers, I was informed ; the latter being 
one of the sect called Quakers. Still the same ques- 
tion occurred to my mind as my eye glanced over the 
apparently inhospitable region of their adoption — Do 
these gentlemen anticipate a profitable investment, or 
are these mere locations dictated without regard to 
profit by the peculiar taste of the occupiers ? Nothing* 

c 6 



36 THE SAXON IN IRELAND. Chap. II. 

certainly could exceed trie beauty of the scenery ; but 
to rne that was a secondary consideration ; wherever I 
pitched my tent, it must be with a reasonable expect- 
ation of paying my way, and having something besides 
left in store. 

Winding round the foot of Moolloge mountain, we 
skirted the banks of the Doorus river, which, flowing 
through the Lake of Kylemore, runs into the Bay of 
Ballinakill. Here, crossing the stream at the Bridge of 
Tullaree, we entered upon the beautiful vale of Kyle- 
more, hemmed in by lofty and rugged mountains ; those 
of Benabola, or rather Knockannigheen, to the south, 
and the ridge of Doagrhe to the north. The compo- 
nent rocks of the former mountains are quartz, often 
distinctly stratified, or at least schistose. The position 
of its beds is various ; they seem to lap on the swell of 
the mountain. These quartz hills are all steep-sided, 
and exhibit much naked rock. The Vale of Kylemore 
also affords limestone in considerable masses. It may 
be traced across the opposite heights of Maamturk, and 
runs along the northern side of Benabola. We pass 
along the shore of the small lake of Poulacoppul before 
we reach Kylemore. The hills to our left exhibit lofty 
cliffs of hornblende rock, of which immense masses have 
been detached, and have fallen into the vale below. 
The opposite mountain of Bencoona is also of horn- 
blende, and beyond this the limestone is not found. I 
am thus particular in my description, as we are now 
entering a country which riveted my attention from the 
first, exhibiting not mere patches here and there of ca- 
pable land, but, as I proceeded, many considerable tracts 
presented themselves susceptible of great improvement. 
On entering the lovely vale of Kylemore, I found my- 
self at once amid the spirited improvements which are 



Chap. II. VALE OF KYLEMORE. 37 

now carrying on by Mr. Eastwood. Had I known of 
any inn within a few miles of this place, where I could 
have remained, I should have endeavoured to make 
myself better acquainted with this gentleman's plans 
and their results, for what I now saw before me greatly 
interested me. Mr. Eastwood seems to have set to 
work in good earnest, having built for himself an ex- 
cellent house, sheltered by the mountain of Bencoona, 
and secured an estate beautifully situated in the gorge 
of the vale, and watered by a fine stream, which ap- 
peared to possess a convenient fall for machinery. As 
I passed, the plough was turning up some apparently 
deep alluvial soil in the flat of the vale and near the 
river, and in all directions the work of reclamation was 
going on with a spirit which excited my admiration. 
As I was taking a general view from an eminence near 
the road, Mr. Eastwood himself passed me on horseback, 
but so rapidly that I had no opportunity of introducing 
myself had I felt it right to do so. One circumstance 
particularly struck me as I gazed upon this property, — 
whether, being so much in the very gorge of the vale, it 
might not be exposed to a continual draft of air, and 
sometimes to the rush of violent gusts and storms as 
they blew from the not far distant ocean, or from the 
recesses of the lofty mountains by which it was en- 
closed ? It was, however, to me a cheering sight. I saw 
here in actual progress what I should be myself com- 
pelled probably to attempt, though on a much humbler 
scale ; and here, as at Cliefden, I could not but render 
due honour to the man who " had caused the wilder- 
ness and the solitary place to be glad, and the desert to 
rejoice and blossom as the rose."* To the tourist and 

* Isaiah, xxxv. 1. 



38 THE SAXON IN IRELAND. Chap. II. 

the angler this vale will afford a rich treat. The scenery 
as I saw it, on a fine calm autumnal day, quite filled my 
imagination, though I must confess it is not easily sa- 
tisfied. I felt as if there was nothing more to wish for; 
here was a combination of all that was glorious and 
lovely in landscape. I had hitherto seen no lake in 
Connaught to compare with this : generally, these broad 
expanses of water lie naked and unclothed amid the 
stony recesses of the hills, or repose on the dark and 
flat surface of the bogs ; but here Nature seemed to have 
asserted her claims, and many a bosky dell and woody 
steep gave clothing and richness to the views. I ob- 
served oak, holly, hazel, birch, and mountain ash, 
flourishing in considerable masses, showing that Ireland 
was once abundant in timber and copsewood, and ought 
to be so again. To the angler these lakes afford, I am 
told, excellent sport. The river Dooms running through 
Kylemore and Poulacoppul Loughs, communicates with 
the sea a few miles further to the westward, and quan- 
tities of salmon and white trout thus find their way into 
these waters. Passing onwards, near the head of the 
lake, several things attracted my attention. To the 
right the wild and solitary vale of Grlen Ina opened, 
and the deep ravine of the Kylemore river was seen re- 
ceding into the mountains of Benabola, shut in by im- 
mense and inaccessible crags. Here, at the head of the 
lake, where the two vales meet, are several hundred acres 
of very promising land. A gig was waiting on the road, 
and two persons were in the act of measuring and sur- 
veying the said lands as I passed. It is a portion of 
the D'Arcy property, and on sale. Here the mountains 
recede, and the sun has free play upon the gentle slopes. 
Passing the solitary dwelling of the Rev. Mr. Duncan, 



Chat. II. VILLAGE OF LEENANE. 39 

who, as I drove by, was in his garden, and appeared to 
be quietly contemplating the sublime scene before him, 
my eyes were attracted on the left hand, as w T e ascended 
the hill, by a large but low thatched building, winch, 
with its square courtyard and ample gates and internal 
windows, reminded me of the pictures of some of the 
Eastern caravanseries. It was in truth a wretched place, 
yet I could see that it was partly inhabited. On en- 
quiry, the post-boy informed me that it had been the 
hospital and poor-house during the famine. I caught 
a passing view of the lonely Lough Fee on my left, 
and to the right were the rugged mountains of Joyce's 
Country. Before me was the harbour, or inlet, called 
the Killery, deep, narrow, and running inland for 
some miles, closed in by wild cliffs and dark moun- 
tains ; among these, to the north-west, towered the 
highest in Mayo — the desolate and, even on such a 
day, the cloud-capped Mweelrea. Far to the west- 
ward the sun gleamed on the Atlantic, and the lofty 
headlands of Clare Island were seen dimly in the dis- 
tance. I gazed long upon this scene, for it is one I 
shall never forget. It was among these wilds, where 
the ocean washes the rocks of Tully, that the Blake 
family retired, and from their lonely retreat, " Renvyle," 
scattered around them the blessings of knowledge and 
civilisation. Mr. Blake was a great, though too enthu- 
siastic* an improver — introduced a superior stock both 
of cattle and sheep — led the way in the reclamation 
of waste lands — showed what science and industry 
could effect ; and, like a good steward of what God had 
given him, abode among his own people. That pleasing 
little work, entitled " Letters from the Irish High- 
lands," was the joint production of this gifted family. 



40 THE SAXON IN IRELAND. Chap. II. 

Skirting the romantic shores of the Killery, we at length 
reached the miserable village of Leenane. Strange it 
is that, where nature is so lovely, man should be so de- 
graded and so wretched. The maimed, the blind, the 
naked, the widow and the orphan crowded around me 
as I alighted from the car ; and one poor fellow, lame 
and crippled in almost every limb, followed me for 
nearly a mile, as I walked forward to enjoy, unmolested 
if possible, the surrounding scenery. Having distri- 
buted what change I had about me to the various 
claimants at the village, I turned to the poor fellow and 
regretted my inability to relieve him. " God bless your 
honour," was the affecting reply ; " sure it can't be 
helped then :" and back he turned, so patient and re- 
signed, and thankful for " the kind word," that it smote 
upon my heart, and I returned with him to the village, 
and sent him away happy — if, poor fellow, happiness 
could ever visit one so afflicted and utterly destitute. I 
was now in Joyce's Country, so famed for a race of men 
tall as the sons of Anak. I was not, however, fortunate 
enough to meet with any of these giants as I passed 
through their country. .1 saw much wretchedness, 
though nature had provided ample sources of profitable 
employment. Lord Sligo's slate mines in this neigh- 
bourhood have been discontinued ; and the fisheries, I 
was informed, might employ many more hands. Be- 
sides the Marquis of Sligo and other members "of his 
family, an Irish Protestant archbishop and a dean 
have residences, if not estates, in this district, and with- 
in a short distance of Leenane. As we travelled along 
the Yale of Errive, on the banks of its beautiful river, 
my eye caught a little picture not inappropriate to the 
scenery around. Close by a sacred well (St. Joseph's, 



Chap. II. WESTPORT. 41 

I believe)*, a comely young woman was kneeling at her 
devotions. A low wall surrounded the spot, and though 
we passed close to her, she did not even for one moment 
suffer her attention to be diverted. There is a fine 
salmon fishery in this river, and there are occasional 
patches of very improvable land. The Wood of Errive, 
which skirts the left bank of the stream for a consider- 
able distance, forms a pleasing variety ; and though, as 
" a wood," it would be little thought of in England, 
yet here it is described by the people in terms so glow- 
ing as to raise a smile. It is a standing proof, how- 
ever, if proof were wanting, that timber as well as 
grass and corn are natural to the Irish soil. After 
passing the Bridge of Errive, from which we catch the 
last view of the bold mountainous district we had been 
traversing, the road to Westport gave rise to no parti- 
cular remarks. On the Derrycraff river, as far as the 
eye could reach, there appeared to be a large and useful 
tract of country, with a sufficient fall for drainage. It 
was evening ere I reached Westport. It struck me as a 
thriving town, the streets broad, and planted on either 
side with trees, the country around well cultivated and 
wooded, and the scenery (crowned by the towering peak 
of Croagh Patrick) interesting and peculiar. Lord 
Sligo's beautiful domain adds greatly to the delights of 
this vicinage. His park has about it much of the Eng- 
lish finish ; a lovely stream flows through it, and the 
views from the mansion to the westward are said not to 
be surpassed either for beauty or variety. The inn is 

* These pilgrimages to sacred springs were at one time common in 
England, and traces of the old superstition may still be seen in Cornwall. 
Polwhele, in his history of that county, I think, speaks of them. See 
also Vallancey, " De Rebus Hibernicis." 



42 THE SAXON IN IRELAND. Chap. II. 

not far from the park gates, and much superior to those 
we generally meet with in districts so remote. 

I was much pleased with Westport and its neighbour- 
hood, and felt that there were many inducements there 
to attract a settler. The hand of industry had already 
been active, and cultivation on a large scale had been 
carried on for a considerable length of time. " Forty 
years ago," says Mr. Griffith, in his very interesting 
"Appendix to the Fourth Report of the Commissioners 
on the Nature and Extent of Irish Bogs," " the moun- 
tains in the neighbourhood of Westport were in a state 
very similar to that which the mountains of Tyrawley 
and Erris now exhibit. Many thousand acres of these 
once dreary wastes are now in a comparatively high 
state of cultivation." " The system of improvement 
usually adopted in the mountains of Westport was, first 
to cut off the water from the mountain above, next to 
plough up and burn the surface, and afterwards to lime 
it. The whole of the lime that has been laid out on the 
face of these mountains was carried in panniers on horses' 
backs from the seashore at Westport, where alone it can 
be procured." It appears, also, that the noble proprietors 
of these large tracts have been successively liberal in grant- 
ing leases on such terms that the tenant had every stimulus 
to exertion, feeling that he would enjoy the fruits of his 
industry. Such men are not only benefactors to their 
country, but they thus best secure their own interests ; 
and if, owing to circumstances over which he had no 
control, the Marquis of Sligo has not reaped all the 
benefit he had a right to expect for the encouragement 
thus given to social progress, he may at least console 
himself with the reflection, that most disastrous results 
have in most cases followed where similar exertions 



Chap. II. PROSPECTS OF THE SISTER ISLE. 43 

have not been used. The fertilising effects of lime on 
the soils in this district were first proved by a series of 
extensive and well-conducted improvements by the late 
marquis ; and it was by his fostering care and enter- 
prising spirit that Westport, once a mere fishing-village, 
has now become one of the most thriving and populous 
towns of the West. Mr. Griffith states, in a note to his 
Report, that eighty years ago there was but one small 
field, of eight acres, of green ground, between Castlebar 
and the sea-coast, and these were around Westport 
House ; and within forty years the roads to the West 
did not pass Castlebar. Looking, then, at the im- 
provements that have taken place — the raising of mere 
fishing- villages into large towns — of smuggling stations 
into harbours for the accommodation of an increasing 
commerce — the exchange of dangerous paths across 
lofty mountains and deep morasses into some of the 
finest roads in the empire — the extensive reclamation 
of bogs, and the fertilising of barren hills ; when all 
this is before our very eyes, is it too much to hope that 
the time will come when the present depression will 
pass away, and this glorious country take its proper 
position among the nations, and be, as God has indeed 
intended it to be — the very gem of the sea. That 
trade is languishing — that enterprise is at a stand-still 
— that men's hearts are failing them — that every thing 
is, in fact, retrograding at present — common observa- 
tion must convince any one that will form an impartial 
judgment : but let them be patient for awhile ; the 
ample resources, the immense capabilities, of the Sister 
Isle are beginning to attract observation in England ; 
and I cannot but venture what some may call a rash 
prediction — that Ireland has seen her worst days. 



44 



CHAP. III. 

CROAGH PATRICK. — THE SAINT. — ANTIQUITIES. 

To visit Westport, and not to ascend Croagh Patrick, 
would have been equally inconsistent with Saxon spirit 
or antiquarian enterprise, and I lay claim to a little of 
both. In the afternoon, therefore, always by the by 
the best time of the day for such excursions, as the state 
of the weather is then generally settled for weal or for 
woe, I took a car, and jogged along pleasantly by the 
shores of Clew Bay to the village of Morisk, the spot 
from whence the ascent is generally made. The drive is 
interesting. The country inland is broken into many 
rocky elevations, offshoots or buttresses of the great 
mountain beyond ; while the numerous inlets of the 
bay, its green islands, and the distant mountains of 
Ballycroy, formed at every turn pleasing combinations. 
Yet, over all, rose the towering peak of Croagh Patrick, 
in solemn, solitary grandeur : no rival mountain was 
near it ; it stood out in the pure welkin, sole monarch 
of the scene. Dismounting from my car, a boy of about 
fourteen proposed himself as my guide, and, without 
losing a moment, we started. At first, the ascent is easy. 
A clear and plentiful brook cheers you on for one third 
of the way with its murmurs and prattlings, now rush- 
ing over its bed of gravel, now throwing itself down the 
ledge of some opposing rock. Leaving the brook, the 
well-worn path conducts you through tracts of slippery 



Chap. III. ST. PATRICK AND THE SERPENTS. 45 

bog to the eastern side of trie mountain, whence, verging 
further still to the left, you reach the first station, 
which is southward of that huge cone, which, resting on 
vast superincumbent masses of mountain, seems here to 
soar into the skies. This is called " the station of the 
kid," and here the votaries commence their dhurrus, or 
penance, by seven times crawling on their knees round 
a rude enclosure of stones, within which also they repeat 
the necessary prayers. So my guide informed me. His 
traditions, however, were enunciated so by rote, and 
there was such an affectation of believing himself tho- 
roughly what he had the hardihood to press upon my 
credence, that I suffered him to run himself out without 
interrogation or interruption. He gave me the whole 
history of St. Patrick and the serpents, and of the saint's 
two attendant boys, and of the " tussle" with the 
" gineral " of the serpents, and of the miraculous virtues 
of the saint's bell and its magic clapper, and how the 
" gineral " of the snakes was cast into Loughnapecke, 
which being too small to contain him, he was consigned 
to the more extensive- waters of Loughna Corra ; where, 
even at this day, when the lightnings flash and the 
thunders roll round the summit of the mountain, he may 
be seen disporting himself, and splashing with his tail, 
till the whole air is thickened, and the surrounding lands 
deluged with the spray. From the first station, the 
ascent becomes difficult. The path is a kind of trench, 
either worn by the rushing of waters from above, or by 
the feet of those thousands of pilgrims, who for ages past 
have resorted to this spot to seek atonement for sin, by 
severe acts of penance and propitiatory prayers for the 
mediation of their great saint. This path insures a 
penance of itself; for it consists of loose stones* which 



46 THE SAXON IN IRELAND. Chap. III. 

continually impede progress, and must inflict no ordinary 
punishment upon those who have tender feet, or are 
afflicted with those trifling maladies which are insepar- 
able from a shoe and boot wearing generation. There is 
nothing for it in ascending this mountain, but a stout 
heart and unhesitating resolution. Once begin to rest, 
and you will be for ever resting ; better to do as I did, 
if you can, to commence the ascent leisurely, and not to 
stop till you attain the summit. There you will gene- 
rally find a native ready to welcome you with a drop of 
the genuine " crathur ; " to partake of which even a 
teetotaller could not object, after three miles at least of 
such rugged ascent. But, had it been six miles, the 
view from the summit would amply have repaid the 
fatigue. I will not attempt minutely to describe it ; 
it is beyond the powers of minute description. Take 
the large map of Ireland I have sent you, and draw a 
circle around this mountain, as far as you think the 
human eye can range, and you may have some idea of 
the glorious prospect I now enjoyed. The objects were 
infinite, and the view embraced one of the most interest- 
ing and picturesque tracts, I had almost said, on the 
world's surface. Clew Bay at your feet, with its 866 
islands ; Ballycroy, Currawn, and Achill, to the north ; 
westward, the vast Atlantic, its wild waves lashing the 
bold cliffs of Clare Island, Inishbofin, and Inishturk ; 
eastward, the undulating and boundless plain of the 
great limestone basin of Ireland ; southward, the fair 
barony of Morisk, green with eternal verdure, and 
watered by sparkling lakes and streams ; and in the 
same direction, far and far away, ridge upon ridge of 
distant mountains, among which stood prominently for- 
ward the twelve peaks of Benbeola and the gloomy 



Chap. III. CROAGH PATRICK. 47 

heights of Mweelrea. As I stood entranced, gazing at 
the spectacle before me, a light cloud suddenly en- 
veloped the summit of the mountain, and all was hidden 
from my sight, as with a curtain. As it gradually 
opened, however, and passed away, the effect was ex- 
quisitely beautiful. Portions of the vast landscape only 
were at first visible — now the bay below, with its green 
islands — now the tranquil surface of Loughna Corra, 
with its desolate and solitary shores — now the town of 
Louisburgh, with its little bay, and meandering river, 
and smiling environs. No person who is alive either to 
the beauties or sublimities of nature, should neglect 
visiting this justly celebrated spot, if business or plea- 
sure ever bring him into the county of Mayo. I do not 
say that it exceeds Slievemore in Achill, but it is more 
approachable. The view from Slievemore may excite 
more awe ; that from Croagh Patrick will give most 
pleasure. The latter is enlivened by the admixture of 
towns and villages and inhabited plains ; the former is 
grand, desolate, and solitary. The area, or platform, on 
the summit of the Reek, as Croagh Patrick is generally 
called by the natives, is not much less than an acre, and 
bears abundant marks of the estimation in which it has 
been held, and the object of many of those who ascend 
to it. The station here is, also, a mere enclosure of 
stones. On a projecting shelf, my guide informed me, 
the holy candles and other appendages of the altar are 
placed when mass is said ; and here also votive offerings 
are deposited by the devotees. I was also shown St. 
Patrick's bed. If he ever slept on that rude heap of 
stones, he must have set an example of practical self- 
denial, and undergone a species of penance which few 
of his votaries in the present day would be inclined to 



48 THE SAXON IX IRELAND. Chap. III. 

imitate. But a truce to these tradititions, which, of 
course, find no credence but among the uneducated and 
ignorant. I lingered long in this interesting spot ; in- 
deed, the sun was almost touching the waves of the far 
Atlantic with his chariot-wheels, when my guide warmly- 
pressed me to descend. This we were not long in 
effecting ; and, after ordering the car to be ready in 
half-an-hour, I proceeded to inspect the ruins of the 
Augustinian abbey of Morisk. Following the course 
of the same stream which I have before mentioned, as 
having its source in the mountain above, I soon came in 
view of the buildings, which are not far from the sea- 
shore. A portion of the church is all that is left, and 
the superior masonry of the walls would evince that it 
had been an establishment of some importance. It was, 
I believe, founded or restored by the O'Malleys, a great 
family in these parts. Returning to "Westport, the tide 
filled the bay and its numerous creeks, adding much to 
the beauty of the scenery. I observed many villas as I 
drove along ; a sure sign of prosperity, past or present. 
The harbour appears to be most inconveniently situated 
as regards the town, from which it is, by the road, at 
least two miles distant. Lord Sligo's enclosed domain 
separates them. Newport would appear, to my un- 
accustomed eye, to afford far better anchorage and 
shelter for shipping. It was impossible to visit Croagh 
Patrick, and not to carry the mind back to the times of 
that celebrated saint. The legends of those days are 
unworthy of notice, but history is not silent on the sub- 
ject. St. Patrick, it appears, was sent to Ireland by 
Pope Celestin, after Palladius had failed in his mission. 
At the time of his arrival, there were only four bishops 
in the island, and, of course, heathenism prevailed. 
Like our own Augustine, he set himself manfully to 



Chap. III. FORMER PROSPERITY OF IRELAND. 49 

work, and succeeded in converting all the fierce tribes to 
Christianity. He built 700 churches and many monas- 
teries, created dioceses, ordained 150 bishops and 5000 
priests, and, assisted by missionaries only less zealous 
than himself, soon changed the whole aspect of the 
country, and humanised the inhabitants. Colgan, a 
Franciscan, who wrote the lives of the Irish saints, says, 
" the kingdom of Ireland was formerly much more 
flourishing, abounded much more in cities, towns, and 
villages, and in wealth. Almost every town had noted 
monasteries, and even villages had sometimes their 
peculiar bishops." In St. Patrick's time there were 300 
bishops in Ireland, the reputation of whose great learn- 
ing drew a vast number of divines from Italy, France, 
Germany, and Britain ; nay, even Picts and Saxons 
resorted thither ; " Ireland being," says Colgan, " the 
general storehouse of literature for Europe, and the 
general sanctuary of religious persons." " The city of 
Armagh," says O'Connor, in his Dissertations, "had no 
fewer than 7000 scholars studying at the same time 
within its university ; " and we learn from Bede, " that 
many of the higher and lower order of Anglo-Saxons, 
A. D. 664, retired from their own country into this 
island, some to indulge their taste for reading, others to 
lead a life of stricter observance and solitude." "At 
that remote period," says Sir Richard Hoare, " these 
religious establishments (the monasteries) were highly 
beneficial. Hither the learned resorted; here the an- 
cient manuscripts were collected ; here religion and 
learning found a safe and peaceful asylum. The monks 
imparted their knowledge and doctrines to numerous 
students, who disseminated them widely over the world : 
neither have their public services been confined to the 

D 



50 THE SAXON IN IRELAND. Chap. III. 

cloister, for they were extended to the cultivation of the 
wildest deserts and most barren wilderness, and thus, by 
the sanctity of their morals, and by their enlightened 
understanding within doors, and their industrious labours 
without, they at once instructed, civilized, and benefited 
mankind." It is indeed impossible to travel through this 
interesting country, without marking innumerable ves- 
tiges of its ancient prosperity and importance. To the 
eye of the antiquarian there is a continual treat. The 
cromlechs and rude pillars, the tumuli and carnedds, 
which are dispersed over the country, prove the remote 
period of its inhabitation. Next we observe the humble 
oratory, the stone-roofed chapel, and those inexplicable 
buildings, the round towers. " Turres ecclesiasticce" 
says Giraldus, " quge more patrio, arctse sunt et altse, 
necnon et rotundae ; " but for what especial purpose 
they were built is left to mere conjecture, Then there 
are those curious earthen works called Raths, attributed 
by tradition to the Danes, — 

" Haunted by fairy elves, 
Whose midnight revels, by a forest side 
Or fountain, some belated peasant sees, 
Or dreams he sees, while overhead the moon 
Sits arbitress, and nearer to the earth 
Wheels her pale course." 

Of these some are partly sepulchral, partly places set 
apart for the councils or conferences of the chiefs ; 
some, again, are military works, having ramparts and 
outworks. Sir R. Hoare's "Journal of a Tour in Ireland" 
abounds with ingenious remarks on Irish antiquities ; 
but, with him, one cannot but lament that so little has 
hitherto been attempted to illustrate the topography of 
this interesting country. In religious buildings, this 



Chap. III. INFLUENCE OF THE MONKS. 51 

island will bear a comparison with any part of the 
British empire. " Although," says Sir Richard, " mo- 
nastic architecture may fall short, both in design and 
good execution, and be obliged to yield the palm of 
superiority to the sister kingdoms, yet Ireland, in her 
stone-roofed chapels, round towers, and rich crosses, 
may justly boast of singularities unknown and unpos- 
sessed by either of them." 



i> 2 



52 



CHAP. IV. 



WESTPORT. — MONALIEMAN BOG. — BALLINROBE. — CONG. — 
RODERIC O'CONNOR INVASION OF IRELAND. 

I have been again much gratified with my excursions 
to-day in the neighbourhood of Westport. What may 
be done by patient industry is here manifested on every 
side ; and I am convinced that persons wishing to leave 
England may here find an asylum to suit their inclina- 
tions and their means. I was informed every where that 
the Marquis of Sligo is a good landlord, and willing to 
grant such terms to men of enterprise and capital as will 
enable them to do well even in the face of all present 
discouragements. Westport will doubtless share in the 
prosperity of Galway ; and it is impossible not to foresee 
that the great changes now visible on the world's surface 
will act favourably for the West of Ireland. The spa- 
cious and safe harbours of this coast — their immediate 
proximity to the Atlantic — the large tracts of im- 
provable land — and the facilities now offered for rent- 
ing or purchasing at prices scarcely higher than those 
of Australia or Canada, must have the effect of inducing 
many to pause ere they seek in the Antipodes what 
they can find so much better close to their own shores. 
At each step I take in this land, so highly favoured by 
nature, my ideas of its desirableness and capabilities in- 
crease, and I look with wonder at the general state of 



Chap. IV. SOCIAL IMPROVEMENT OF IRELAND. 53 

neglect and poverty in which some of the finest and 
most beautiful districts in these kingdoms are suffered 
to remain. Nationally speaking, the Irish are neither 
deficient in talent nor in industry. During my progress 
I have met with a larger average of well-informed in- 
telligent persons than I have been accustomed to meet 
with even in my own country. One reason may be, 
that the people here are more polite and more com- 
municative ; — they certainly are occasionally most plea- 
sant travelling companions, and abound in those little 
courtesies and pleasing attentions, particularly towards 
strangers, in which the English are too often so lament- 
ably deficient. I will never believe that the English 
are really unpopular in Ireland : every mile he advances 
must convince the traveller to the contrary. Whilst I 
was in Connemara, I heard universal regret expressed 
by the inhabitants of all grades, that the English had 
not bought up the Martin Estates. " All we want," 
said an intelligent man whom I met and conversed 
with at Flynn's, near Ballinahinch — " All we want is 
English capital and English spirit, and," added he, 
more earnestly, " English justice, so that a poor man 
may get a fair day's wage for a fair day's work." And 
this, indeed, seems the great evil of the country : the 
proprietors, as a body, seem to have little or no money, 
and therefore the people have no work. Where all the 
money is expended, and there must be large returns 
from so many fine properties, no one can or will tell. 
All the wealth is extracted, but little or none seems to 
return. If the estates are generally under mortgage, 
and so overweighted with encumbrances of various kinds 
that the nominal possessor is incapable of performing 
those positive duties which, by the laws of God, are 

D 3 



54 THE SAXON IN IRELAND. Chap. IV. 

inseparable from the possession of the soil, the state 
must interfere ; properties so situated must change 
hands, and the labouring population be rescued from a 
state of misery and degradation which, as it exists in 
this country, certainly has no parallel. This was the 
wise view taken by the present government, when they 
passed the Encumbered Estates Act ; and a more politic, 
a more merciful measure, it is impossible to conceive. 
Such, too, I believe to be the general opinion of the 
majority of enlightened Irishmen themselves; indeed, 
I seldom, when the subject was discussed, heard a con- 
trary sentiment from any person whose opinions had any 
weight. I have heard much of the causes which have 
reduced Ireland to its present state — that all is not 
the mere fault of the law, as certain political economists 
assert. I am convinced something must be attributed 
to the natural improvidence of the people ; and this, too, 
much aggravated by the restless political state in which 
they have been for centuries. Yet still there is no 
doubt, that the state of the law, as it has affected 
property, has been a great evil, and that it is the im- 
perative duty of our legislature, equally in England as 
in Ireland, to remove all those impediments to the free 
transfer of land which are derived from and only fit for 
the feudal ages. The causes that have operated so 
injuriously upon Ireland are various — uncertainty of 
tenure ; limited powers of sale and exchange, in cases 
of entails and foundations; defective leasing powers, and 
the enormous legal costs of transfer, and the uncertain 
position of the purchaser as to what he really buys, as 
regards his obligations thereupon. The relative position 
of landlord and tenant would appear strange to an English 
ear. We learn from the report of the Land Occupation 



Chap. IV. OBSTACLES TO IMPROVEMENT. 55 

Commissioners, that " it is admitted on all hands, that, 
according to the general practice in Ireland, the landlord 
neither builds dwelling-houses, nor farm- offices, nor 
puts fences, gates, &c. in good order, before he lets his 
land to a tenant ! The cases where a landlord does any 
of these things are exceptions ! In most instances, 
whatever is done in the way of building and fencing is 
done by the tenant, and in the ordinary language of the 
country, dwelling-houses, farm-buildings, and even the 
making of fences are described by the general word 
"improvements;" which is thus employed to denote the 
necessary adjuncts to a farm, without which, in England 
or Scotland, no tenant would be found to rent it." Is it 
to be wondered at then, that, under such circumstances, 
sudden ejectments are considered in the light of a legal 
robbery ? Sic vos non vobis cedificatis is literally carried 
out; and no man feels secure in the possession of the 
dwelling he has himself erected, or the improvements 
he has so long toiled to effect. From the present state 
of the law, the landlords of Ireland have no encourage- 
ment to spend money on the improvement of their 
estates. So long as improvements follow the ownership 
of the land, it is decidedly the interest of the tenant for 
life to seek any other source of investment for his 
money. All the landlord generally aims at is to extract 
from his property for the time being all the enjoyment 
and profit he can. This is of itself a very serious check 
upon enterprize, whether as regards the landlord himself 
or the monied public. There ought to be a general 
power to charge improvements on thfe inheritance ; and 
then, many of the large, but neglected estates in this 
country, might be placed in a condition to attract the 
attention of capitalists, and there would not be wanting 

D 4 



56 THE SAXON IN IRELAND. Chap. IV. 

men who would settle upon and improve the lipids. 
That entire state of neglect in which I saw many fine 
properties was disheartening ; I could not help fancy- 
ing a thousand causes that did not probably exist ; nor 
was I surprised at the disinclination felt by landed 
speculators to have any thing to do with a country where 
the population was starving, and the lands lying waste. 
"Wherever, as at Westport, a spirited landlord has set to 
work, and, regardless of all legal obstacles, has laboured 
to the utmost for the improvement of his property, 
the results have been great ; but they would have been 
greater still, if the old feudal disabilities had been re- 
moved, and every species of enactment devised which 
could unfetter the proprietor, and allow him to deal 
fairly and profitably with the public* Again: as I 
travelled through the country the immense proportion 
of waste lands struck me as extraordinary ; and when I 
saw that a large portion of these might be rendered 
productive, I felt there must be some cause for such 
blameable neglect of God's gifts. On inquiry I found 
that in too many cases the waste lands are in strict 
settlement, and the proprietors (incapable themselves of 
finding money for their reclamation, were they so in- 
clined, which, from the reasons above stated, they 
seldom are,) had, moreover, no power of sale. This 
state of things at once afforded a clue to the matter 
and I ceased to be surprised at the quantity of land in 
a state of nature. We may now, however, reasonably 
hope that the aspect of things will be changed. The 
late Act for the Sale of Encumbered Estates will meet 
the difficulty ; and the capitalist may invest his money 

* On this subject see Professor Hancock's " Impediments," &c. 



Chap. IV. WASTE LAND. 57 

and the farmer his means and his intelligence, secure 
of reaping the full benefit, as far as an unexceptionable 
title and possession can secure it. According to Lord 
Devon's able Digest, (t there is scarcely any subject in- 
vestigated by the Commissioners upon which the evidence 
is so concurrent as that of waste land reclamation, with 
a view of increasing remunerative employment for the 
labouring population. Mr. Griffith's valuable report 
and table show that Ireland contains 

Acres. 
Waste land improvable for tillage - 1,425,000 
Waste land improvable for pasture - 2,330,000 



Total improvable - - - 3,755,000 

Waste land unimprovable - - 2,535,000 



Gross total - 6,290,000 



The state of the law, then, has been one principal cause 
why nearly four millions of acres of waste land in Ireland 
have been unreclaimed. The landlord had little or no 
inducement, as all his improvements followed the settle- 
ment of the land ; the tenant was virtually barred from 
attempting it, for the law laid down this principle — " a 
tenant has no right to alter the nature of the land 
demised by enclosing and cultivating waste land included 
in the demise." If he does so it will be waste ! And 
the landlord has no power to relieve the tenant ; for 
though there is a statute giving to tenants in tail the 
power of granting leases for thirty-one years, or three 
lives, yet that power shall not extend " to any lease 
of any lands or tenements which have not been most 

D 5 



58 THE SAXON IN IRELAND. Chap. IV. 

commonly letten to farm, or occupied by the farmers 
thereof, by the space of twenty years next before such 
lease thereof made, nor to any lease to be made without 
impeachment of waste." It is impossible to dive into 
the purpose or meaning of such legislation as this. But 
to finish the picture : the capitalist could not buy, 
because most of these waste lands are in strict settle- 
ment, and the proprietors have no power of sale ; but 
even where the lands were not so situated, he was 
discouraged from purchasing by other weighty con- 
siderations. " The cost," says Mr. Hancock, in his 
excellent work •, " of tracing sixty years' title, search- 
ing for judgments, paying stamps on conveyances 
and searches, and preparing the conveyances, is so 
great, as nearly always to exceed the entire value of 
the waste land." The real oppressors of Ireland were 
surely those who imposed upon her such heavy fetters as 
these, bound down her energies, and paralysed every 
effort at improvement. This state of the law acted 
most mischievously, too, on the moral character of the 
people ; and we have no right to be surprised at the 
amount of disaffection and crime which necessarily ac- 
companied such a state of things. I have gone the more 
fully into this subject, as it removes one great cause of 
suspicion amongst those who occasionally cast their eyes 
to these shores with the idea of settlement or invest- 
ment. Now that we can perceive why the sister country 
has existed so long in this disgraceful state, we are 
satisfied that the causes may be removed ; and as we 
know also that the eyes of the legislature are open to 
these facts, and that measures have been already taken, 

* Impediments to the Prosperity of Ireland. 



Chap. IV. VICINITY OF WESTPORT. 59 

and others are in progress, to remove them, our con- 
fidence waxes stronger, and our hope of a better state 
of things becomes more established. The only check 
that can now impede a rapid progress is the present 
low state of agriculture. It becomes a serious question 
whether, when the waste lands, by a short and inex- 
pensive process, become his own, the proprietors can, 
by outlay and labour, extract a fair and remunerative 
return from them. This is a point for subsequent 
observation and inquiry; it is one which I will not 
attempt to determine till further data are in my pos- 
session, and also the opinions of practical men here, who 
are actually engaged at the present time in the work of 
reclamation, and therefore can speak with certainty as 
to the result in their own cases. 



I was not willing to prosecute my researches further 
west or north till I had seen more of Lough Corrib 
and its shores, deeming those districts as most promis- 
ing, from the great facilities of communication with 
Dublin and England which they will shortly possess : 
in consequence, I proceeded to Cong, a small town 
situated at the head of Lough Corrib, on the narrow 
isthmus which separates it from Lough Mask. The 
first few miles out of Westport are through a country 
well cultivated and pleasing. Mount Browne, which 
we passed in our way, is a lovely retreat, situated near 
the beautiful lough of Kinlooey. The domain is well 
timbered ; and that, coupled with the abrupt undula- 
tions of the surface, has a doubly striking effect in a 
country so generally destitute of shelter. Passing the 

D 6 



60 THE SAXON IN IRELAND. Chap. IV- 

picturesque ruins of an old castle, on the right, so 
situated as to overlook a wide extent of country, a dreary 
and wild district succeeded, stretching far away to the 
east in extensive flats, and bounded on the west by an 
advancing arm of the Connemara range of mountains, 
called Slieve Bohaan, which attains an elevation of 
nearly 1300 feet. This at present desolate tract is 
called the Monalieman Bog, and contains upwards of 
6000 English acres, including several lakes and small 
pools. The moment my eye glanced upon this wide 
extent, I could not but acknowledge its capabilities. 
Here improvement would have fair scope. The moun- 
tains, though forming a beautiful boundary to the west, 
yet were not too near, and there appeared a good fall 
for draining, either into Lough Mask on the south or 
the river Aille on the east. This large bog, at its 
highest elevation, is not more than 89 feet above Lough 
Mask, and into that lake it principally discharges its 
waters. Long hills of gravel, heathy and barren, and 
covered with bog from one to two feet deep, intersect 
it ; and the substratum is, for the most part, a red sand- 
stone. But a limestone soil bounds it to the north, and 
abundance of limestone gravel may be procured from 
the east side of the river Aille. This stream is navi- 
gable for several miles, to Lough Mask, for boats not 
drawing more than six feet of water ; and, as the lake 
itself is navigable to the river Robe, which will soon be 
open to Ballinrobe, the district will at once command 
a good market, and find a ready, cheap, and easy supply 
of all necessaries. The communication also now form- 
ing from Lough Corrib to Lough Mask will greatly im- 
prove and open out this part of the country ; and it is 
therefore well worthy of the attention of those who 



Chap. IV. MONALIEMAN BAY. — BALLINROBE. 61 

look for an open healthy location with a certain pro- 
spect of an increase of value. Close to Monalieman is 
another uncultivated tract, called the Cloghar Bog, in 
extent nearly 2000 acres, possessing the advantage of a 
subsoil of limestone. Its elevation is about 72 feet 
above Lough Mask, and it discharges its waters into 
that lake. A sum of about 2000/. according to Mr. 
Bald's opinion, would thoroughly drain this bog, and 
render it fit for any of the operations of agriculture. 
In taking a view of this now bleak and inhospitable 
district from an eminence near the road, I could not 
help regretting the expatriation of so many thousands 
of the inhabitants, who, by the application of so com- 
paratively small a capital, might have found means of 
employment in the land of their fathers, and increased 
the power and resources of our common country. 
Leaving this wild but interesting district, we pass along 
the shore of a long narrow lake, and soon arrive at the 
river which unites the Loughs Carra and Mask. The 
country, though flat, becomes here more woody and 
sheltered ; pleasing views of the various lakes peep out 
now and then, while the Slieve Partry mountains, rising 
from the western shores of Lough Mask, seem to offer 
a barrier to further progress on that side. Approaching 
Ballinrobe, the bare limestone rock appears to occupy 
the greater portion of the surface ; but the condition of 
the live stock and excellent crops produced, wherever 
the plough or spade can penetrate, justify, as I was 
informed, the apparently high rents at which land is 
here let. Long before we reach the town, the tall octa- 
gonal tower of the Roman Catholic Chapel is visible, 
surmounted with many crosses, and forms a striking 
object to all the country round. It was the market day. 



62 THE SAXON IN IRELAND. Chap. IV. 

For several miles we met the people returning home, 
many forming picturesque groups, the costume of the 
women being generally the blue cloak and scarlet petti- 
coat. Notwithstanding the numbers that had left, the 
town was full when I arrived, and it was altogether a 
busy bustling scene. No one who has not visited these 
remote districts can have a conception of the noise, 
the jabbering, the perpetual movement in an Irish 
market. Every one seems as busy as if the welfare of 
the world depended upon him solely ; busy, that is to 
say, so far as shouting and talking, and violent gesticu- 
lation, can convey that idea. You would think, when 
two men are merely bargaining, that they were going 
to wage desperate battle on the nonce, — such earnest- 
ness, — such slapping of hands, — such bawling in each 
other's ears, — such retreating and advancing, — such 
scorn, — such defiance : and yet it is all in good-hu- 
mour. " It's the way wid 'em," said my post-boy, as 
I expressed my apprehensions ; " Grod bless you, sir, 
they're good friends entirely." Well, they may be 
good friends, and I do not the least doubt it ; but a 
little admixture of English self-possession and quietude 
in doing business would be no disadvantage. A Saxon 
friend of mine, who attended a fair in the west with 
some cattle to sell, was determined to alter the system, 
at least in his own case. He named his price — a fair 
one — and refused to engage in any higgling. " Take 
them, or leave them," was his only answer to bargaining 
customers, and he returned home with the full money 
in his pocket, and the consciousness of having broken 
through an absurd and unseemly custom. Ballinrobe 
is pleasantly situated on a river, which, flowing by the 
pretty village of Hollymount, falls into Lough Mask 



Chap. IV. CONG. 63 

about two miles below the town. The improvements 
now carrying on to afford an internal communication 
will much benefit Ballinrobe, as this place will form a 
kind of mart to distribute every necessary article of 
consumption to a large district lying to the eastward. 
There is good land, though much of it rocky, in this 
neighbourhood. These parts suffered, however, severely 
in the year of the famine, and lost, by death and emi- 
gration, a great number of inhabitants. Passing " the 
Neale," a respectable mansion, now the residence of the 
noble family of Kilmaine, we reached Cong late in the 
evening. This village, and its neighbourhood, are full 
of interest to the antiquarian, the geologist, and the 
admirer of nature, whether in her wilder or her softer 
garb. The abbey, of which considerable portions re^ 
main, particularly the very beautiful gateway, was of 
the remotest antiquity : some assert as early as the 
seventh century. In fact, Cong was, from the earliest 
ages, the residence of the powerful and warlike kings 
of Connaught. Most conveniently placed between the 
large lakes of Corrib and Mask, it afforded an easy 
communication by water with the greater portion of 
their territory, and it guarded one of the principal 
passes into the far west, among whose inaccessible 
rocks and mountains a speedy and effectual refuge might 
be sought in the event of any powerful invasion. Cong 
was once a large and flourishing town, if we may credit 
tradition, and had several churches, of which traces are 
said still to remain. Its abbey afforded a peaceable 
retreat to the last of the kings of Ireland, Roderic 
O'Connor. Foreseeing the future conquest of his 
country by the warlike Normans, invited over by Der- 
mod Mac Morogh, king of Leinster, and having expe- 



64 THE SAXON IN IRELAND. Chap. IV. 

rienced the undutifulness and ingratitude of his sons, 
he retired to this abbey, where, spending the remainder 
of an active life in quiet preparation for another, he 
died, at an advanced age, about the year of our Lord 
1198. My early morning's ramble through these sacred 
precincts afforded me much matter for reflection, con- 
nected, as they are, with all of good or evil that has 
since happened to this island. It was in consequence 
of a noble act of Roderic O'Connor that the English 
were first introduced, and acquired possessions on the 
eastern coast. It appears that Dermod, king of Lime- 
rick, was a barbarian and a tyrant. Giraldus de Barri, 
a contemporary writer, thus describes him : — " He was 
tall, and of a large body, a valiant and bold warrior in 
his nation, and, by reason of his continual war- shouting, 
his voice had become hoarse (ex crebro continuoque 
belli clamore, voce raucisona). He was a great op- 
pressor of his nobles, advanced the low-born, was 
hateful to his own people, and detested by strangers." 
Giraldus sums up this description in a few remarkable 
words : — " Manus omnium contra ipsum et ipse con- 
trarius omni." This tyrant had ravished the wife of 
O'Rourke, a prince of Breffine, which, added to his 
many other oppressions, roused the indignation of Ro- 
deric, who, marching against him, drove him from his 
kingdom, and forced him to take refuge in England. 
Here he craved the protection of Henry the Second, 
and at once enlisted that ambitious monarch in his 
favour, by swearing allegiance to him, and by promising 
to aid his long-cherished design of bringing the various 
principalities of Ireland into subjection. It appears 
that the indignation of Henry had been repeatedly 
roused by the acts of aggression perpetrated against 



Chap. IV. INVASION OF IRELAND. 65 

the Welsh by their Irish neighbours ; and even so early 
as a. d. 1155, a bull had been procured from Pope 
Adrian, authorising the subjugation of that turbulent 
people on the first opportunity that occurred. The 
document itself is preserved inRymer's Fcedera. Rely- 
ing upon the assurances of the English king, and the 
favourable edict which he had issued, Dermod, by many 
persuasions and liberal offers of territorial aggrandise- 
ment, at length persuaded Richard, son of Gilbert de 
Clare, Earl of Striguil and Chepstow, to undertake his 
cause, upon condition, also, that he would give his 
daughter Eva in marriage to the said Richard, and 
secure to him the reversion of his kingdom. While, 
therefore, preparations were making for an expedition 
in the ensuing spring, Dermod repaired to St, David's, 
on the Welsh coast, "where," says Giraldus, "languishing 
for a passage, he comforted himself as well as he might ; 
sometimes drawing, and, as it were, breathing the air 
of his country, which he seemed to breathe and smell ; 
sometimes viewing and beholding his country, which 
in a fair day a man may ken and descry." The first 
attempt, however, upon the independence of Ireland 
was made in the year 1170. Robert Fitz-Stephen, ac- 
companied by only 130 of his kinsmen, 60 men in 
armour, and 300 archers and footmen, landed near 
Wexford, where, being joined by Dermod and some 
native troops, they speedily took possession of Wexford 
and the surrounding lands. Roderic O'Connor, king of 
Connaught, marked these proceedings with uneasiness, 
and made a private treaty with Dermod, whereby he 
was secured in the possession of Leinster, on condition 
of acknowledging Roderic to be chief king of all Ireland, 
and sending home the English invaders as soon as tran 



66 THE SAXON IN IRELAND. Chap. IV. 

quillity was restored in Leinster. Emboldened, how- 
ever, by some partial successes, Dermod, ever a traitor, 
resolved to wreak his vengeance upon Roderic, and 
accordingly wrote to Earl Strongbow to remind him of 
their engagement. As some of the expressions used in 
this letter are peculiar, I offer no apology for transcribing 
them ; and if you wish for more detailed information on 
the events of this interesting period, you will find them 
briefly but clearly narrated in the introduction to Sir 
Richard Colt Hoare's " Journal of a Tour in Ireland," 
A. d. 1806. "If you do well consider," says Dermod, 
" and mark the time as we do which are in distress, then 
we do not complain without cause, nor out of time. For 
we have already seen the storks and the swallows ; the 
summer birds are also come, and with the westerly winds 
are gone again. We have long looked and wished for 
your coming, and albeit the winds have been at east and 
easterly, yet hitherto you are not come unto us. All 
Leinster is already yielded unto us, and if you will 
speedily come away with some strong company and 
force, we doubt not but that the other four portions 
(Connaught, Munster, Ulster, and Meath (?)) will be re- 
covered and joined to this fifth portion. Your coming, 
therefore, the more speedy the more grateful, the more 
hasty the more joyful, and the sooner the better wel- 
come." Strongbow landed in Ireland, in the Bay of 
Waterford, with a chosen body of troops, on the vigil of 
the feast of St. Bartholomew. He besieged and took 
the city of Waterford by storm, after a fierce and bloody 
contest, in which many natives of distinction were slain, 
and Reginald, prince of the Danes, and Malachy OFeo- 
lain, prince of the Decies, were captured. We may 
date the subjugation of Ireland from this event, though 



Chap. IV. INVASION OF IRELAND. 67 

many vicissitudes attended the future encroachments of 
these invaders. Dermod, insatiate in his vengeance, and 
flushed with success, laid waste the territory of O'Rourke, 
prince of Meath, his ancient enemy ; upon which, 
Roderic O'Connor, thinking " that, as his neighbour's 
house was set on fire, his own might shortly suffer the 
same fate," sent messengers to Dermod MacMorogh 
with letters to this purpose : — " Not caring for thy oath, 
nor regarding the safety of thy hostages, thou hast in- 
solently passed thy bounds : I am to require thee to 
retire, and withdraw these excurses of strangers, or 
else, without fail, I will cut off thy son's head, and send 
it thee." Dermod answering that he would not desist 
from his enterprize until he had subdued all Connaught, 
Roderic made good his threat, and ordered his son's 
head to be cut off and sent to him. Henry II. landed in 
person at Waterford, in October, 1172. Then came 
Dermod MacCarthy, king of Cork, and voluntarily 
submitted himself unto the king of England; as also 
Donald, king of Limerick, Donald, prince of Ossory, 
and Malachy O'Feolain, prince of the Decies. But the 
haughty Roderic, king of Connaught, would not step 
beyond the Shannon to greet the English monarch ; 
wherefore Hugh de Lacie and William Fitz-Aldeline 
were sent to him, and administered the oath of allegiance. 
" There was no one within that land," says Giraldus, 
" who was of any name or countenance, but that he did 
present himself before the king's majesty, and yielded 
unto him subjection and due obedience." Still, how- 
ever, Roderic continued in arms for the defence of his 
country; and taking advantage of some successes against 
the English near Cashel, he invaded the province of 
Meath, and laid the country waste to the very walls of 



68 THE SAXON IN IRELAND. Chap. IV. 

Dublin. Deserted, however, by the other native princes, 
and harassed by a perpetual warfare with his undutiful 
and rebellious sons, he retired in bitterness of spirit 
within the cloistered walls of the abbey of Cong, where 
he died, a. d. 1198, at the advanced age of eighty-two 
years. These events have had so great an influence on 
the destinies of this unhappy land, that I have penned 
this hasty sketch, with a view of turning your attention 
to the history of Ireland generally, as one unparalleled 
for a succession of atrocities, and of incidents of the 
most exciting and extraordinary description. 



69 



CHAR V. 

CONG. — GOLDEN BAY. — COBNAMONA. 

Taking possession of the only two rooms in the quiet 
little inn conducted by Mr. Vanderburgh, than whom 
I have seldom met with a landlord more truly respectable 
and obliging, I determined to make Cong my head- 
quarters during the term of my stay in this part of the 
country ; and I had no reason to regret my choice. 
Every information and facility were given freely in aid 
of my researches. Early in the morning I sallied forth 
to inspect this ancient metropolis of kings. Alas for 
the strange vicissitudes to which all earthly power is 
subject ! Cong is now a mere collection of miserable 
cottages, clustering round the beautiful ruins of its once 
magnificent abbey, and adorned with a curious cross in 
the centre of the street, still attesting the pristine im- 
portance of the place. I was ushered into the abbey by 
an ancient crone — fit guide to so desolate a scene ! so 
haggard and withered was she, so sad an instance of the 
melancholy inroads of time and wretchedness upon the 
human frame. The gateway is beautiful — so perfect, 
indeed, that it might have been only chiselled yesterday; 
but within, the remains of this noble structure pre- 
sent the aspect of a mere charnel-house, blocked up 
with rubbish, and strewed with human skulls and bones. 
As seen from Mr. Lambert's grounds, which include, I 



70 THE SAXON IN IRELAND. Chap. V. 

believe, the cloister area and a portion at least of the 
monastic gardens, the ruins appear to far more advan- 
tage, and they here present specimens of masonry pe- 
culiarly chaste and elegant. By this gentleman a pretty 
cottage has been erected, in appropriate style, close to 
the spot once occupied by the cloisters ; and by surround- 
ing his little domain with a high wall, he has succeeded 
in preserving at least this portion of the sacred precincts 
from further damage and desecration. The abbey was 
nearly enclosed by the river, which, running for a con- 
siderable distance underground from Lough Mask, 
emerges about half a mile above Cong, and, after sup- 
plying several large mills with an inexhaustible water- 
power, finds its way into Lough Corrib. In the centre 
of the stream, close to the salmon weir, is a ruined 
building, formerly the fishing lodge of the abbey, from 
whence, if tradition is to be credited, a wire communi- 
cating with the abbot's chamber, caused a bell to ring 
whenever a fish was taken. There is around this abbey 
a mingled air of fertility and wildness — wood, rock, 
water, and pastures of the brightest green, are so com- 
mingled as to form an endless variety of lovely scenery ; 
and when all the advantages of this locality are con- 
sidered, it is not wonderful that kings and priests made 
it their favourite resort. That it will again rise into 
importance, when the new arrangements for internal 
communication are completed, no one can reasonably 
doubt. After breakfast, accompanied by a gentleman 
of intelligence and consideration in the neighbourhood, 
I embarked in a boat with four stout rowers ; and 
quickly emerging on the broad waters of Lough Corrib, 
we steered to the Cornamona river, which, after flowing 
through the wild valleys of Joyce's Country, empties 



Chap. V. GOLDEN BAY. 71 

itself into the lake at its extreme n or th-we stern point. 
As we glided swiftly over the crystal surface, new 
objects of interest arose continually on every side. 
Passing between the rocky islets of Ardillaun and 
Scollopaun, we neared the shore ; and penetrating the 
recesses of Grolden Bay, landed there to inspect the 
judicious improvements which are effecting under the 

inspection of the spirited lessee, Mr. L , of Cong 

Abbey. I was surprised, on walking over the farm, to 
observe the natural fertility of the land ; for at a dis- 
tance, as we coasted along, the hills, as they sloped 
with a rapid descent to the margin of the lake, had 
a somewhat desolate and neglected appearance. A 
great portion of this northern shore of Corrib is the pro- 
perty of the Earl of Leitrim. On ascending to the 
highest point on this farm, we enjoyed, from the area 
of one of the old Danish forts, a magnificent view. 
To the north the waters of Lough Mask extended to 
the far horizon ; to the south, the broad expanse of 
Corrib lay at our feet, studded with green islands, its 
shores broken by rocky promontories and rising into 
lofty hills. From hence, too, we could distinctly mark 
the line of communication which is to unite these two 
large lakes ; and gazing as we did upon a vast extent of 
country below us, the mind could not but speculate upon 
the rapid changes which must soon come over this fertile, 
but hitherto almost unknown region. Descending from 
the fort, I noticed some fine cattle of the short -horned 
breed, whose condition spoke well for the quality of the 
pasture. The fields here are large, and fenced in by 
high and substantial stone walls ; a circumstance which, 
however desirable to the occupier, does not certainly 
add to the beauty of the country. Mr. L has 



72 THE SAXON IN IEELAND. Chap. V. 

erected a comfortable house and out-buildings, in a plea- 
sant spot, commanding a sweet view of Golden Bay 
and its solitary island ; and a little below, a corn mill of 
most substantial workmanship, which he has supplied 
with water from two small lakes to the northward. A 
more delightful location for a settler than this I can 
scarcely conceive ; everything is made to his hand, and 
the future prospects of this district are certainly most 
encouraging. This farm was to be let for what I con- 
sidered a low rent, and for a long term. Leaving Golden 
Bay, we skirted the shore, passing the small isle of 
Bowry to our left, and to our right the green and cul- 
tivated heights of Dooroy and Ardaun. Before us now 
opened the deep but fertile vale of Dooghta, hemmed in 
by bold mountains ; among which, close above us, rose 
the rocky heights of Benleva. This mountain is of trap 
formation, and on its eastern base the great limestone 
field of Ireland terminates. Never shall I forget the 
lovely island of Inishdoorus ; its pastures are of the true 
green of Erin, and its gentle slopes contrast beautifully 
with the wild scenery upon which we are now opening. 
Island after island now cluster round the promontory of 
Cloonbrone; and so peculiar is the scene, that it is 
difficult for an eye accustomed only to the tamer scenery 
of England to believe that it is not gazing on the hills 
and valleys of some far distant clime. Indeed, as I be- 
lieve I have before remarked, there is a character in 
Irish scenery peculiar to itself; in no part of Great 
Britain have I discovered any striking resemblance to 
it. Skirting the rocky shores of Dooms, we at length 
entered the mouth of the Cornamona river, and direct- 
ing our course up the valley which it waters, we again 
moored our boat at the bridge, erected, I believe, by 






Chap. V. BIBLE-READERS. 73 

Alexander Nimmo, near to a limekiln and a few huts, 
not worthy the name of a village. Apart from the 
beauty of the scenery, there is much improvable land in 
this district ; and passing over the ridge which divides 
this vale from that of Bealnabrack, the eye of the im- 
prover sees much to attract his attention. Some of the 
mountain pasture in this neighbourhood is greatly 
prized, and lets for high rents. The promontory of 
Doorus and Cloonbrone, as you will observe in the 
map, reaching far into the lake, forms two bays, into 
each of which flows a considerable river. Limestone is 
abundant, and the turf of Coramona is of excellent 
quality. The romantic residence of Doon is in this 
neighbourhood; its woods rising abruptly from the 
lake to a considerable elevation, constitute a striking 
and beautiful feature in the landscape. I did not ex- 
tend my ramble far in that direction. We sat down on 
a rocky ledge, near to a spring that bubbled up at our 
feet, and there partook of a quiet repast, in the full 
enjoyment of the lovely scenery around us. Before 
returning to our boat, we sauntered along the road that 
leads to Maam, and there encountered in our path two 
of those itinerants called " Bible-readers/' who are paid 
principally, I believe, from English contributions, and 
whose business is to enter the cottages of the poor, and 
instruct them in Protestant doctrine, and to point out to 
them the errors and superstitions of the faith they pro- 
fess. "We entered into conversation with these men. 
They did not pretend to much success at present ; nor 
could they say that the population received them gladly. 
The elder of the two (the younger was a mere stripling 
for so grave a purpose) was well read in his Bible, had 
been sufficiently tutored in his points for argument or 

E 



74 THE SAXON IN IRELAND. Chap. V. 

disputation, was fluent in speech, and well up to his 
business. His main object among the people, he said, 
was to wean their minds from all superstitious reverence 
to externals, to restore the sacraments of the Church to 
their real scriptural signification, and, moreover, to de- 
nounce the system of Popery as a fraud. I did not, I 
must confess, enter entirely into all his views ; he seemed 
to me, in his endeavours to avoid one error, to be in 
danger of running into another. The violent protests 
of such men shock often er than they convince. It is 
necessary to deal tenderly with prejudices, and fiery 
denunciations are more calculated to raise opposition 
and hatred, than to win men from error to the truth. I 
was afterwards informed that much excitement had been 
caused in the neighbourhood by these proceedings ; but 
to what extent they had succeeded in gaining real and 
conscientious converts to the Protestant Church, I could 
not ascertain. Again threading the lovely mazes of the 
Coramona river, we emerged into the lake, and soon 
found ourselves once more standing beneath the vene- 
rable ruins of Cong Abbey. 



75 



CHAP. VI. 

THE PIGEON HOLE. ROSS HILL. — NEW CHURCH. — ROSS 

ABBEY. LOUGH MASK CASTLE. 

My next excursion was by land. I left Cong in a car 
early in the morning, and after driving for some dis^ 
tance through a district, whose surface was one continued 
limestone rock, except where a scanty soil occasionally 
put forth patches of the liveliest verdure, I reached 
that curious natural fissure known by tourists as " the 
Pigeon Hole." Descending into the earth by about 
sixty steps, you find yourself gazing with astonishment 
and awe at the subterranean chasm through which the 
vast waters of Lough Mask empty themselves into 
Lough Corrib. A picturesque group of females were 
washing linen at one end of the cave, while at the other 
the waters were seen to flow rapidly along, till lost in 
obscurity beyond. I noticed several fine trout swim- 
ming in the current. This place has been so often and 
so well described, that I will not loiter here, but hasten 
forward. As we approached the comparatively neat 
little village of Rosshill the rain fell in torrents, and I 
was glad, while my post-boy took shelter under the 
thick shade of a plantation, to hurry onward and take 
refuge in a cottage, the door of which was invitingly open. 
Here, as ever in this hospitable land, was the " kindly 
welcome " given, the chair dusted, the fire replenished, 

e 2 



76 THE SAXON IN IRELAND. Chap. VI. 

and those numberless little attentions accorded, which 
render Ireland to me so attractive, notwithstanding all 
its squalidness and its misery. The occupants were a 
widow woman, her two daughters, one about thirteen 
years of age, the other nine, and a poor creature who, 
like myself, had asked for shelter from the storm, and 
who, half clad in tatters, cowered, or rather squatted, in 
the corner of the ample fire-place, in that peculiar man- 
ner so common in this country. The cottage was neat 
for an Irish cottage — the floor was rudely flagged — 
the roof weather-tight — the door ample in its dimen- 
sions — the window whole, and twice the usual size. 
Everything around gave striking evidence, that well 
directed influence was at work here, and that some 
potent arm was stretched out, to rescue this rural quiet 
spot from the surrounding scenes of degradation and of 
want. The family were Roman Catholics. After the 
poor widow had told her tale of woe ; how she had lost 
her husband by an accident, just as her in creasing family 
most demanded his protection and his exertions, how 
kind her neighbours had been to her after her bereave- 
ment ; particularly one gentle lady, whose heart could 
ever sympathise with suffering, and whose purse was 
ever ready to relieve it (I could have wished the widow's 
story twice as long, so much did it interest and affect 
me) ; after she had finished, I entered into conversation 
with her elder daughter, and found her intelligent, 
well taught, and singularly modest and pleasing in her 
manner and her answers. I gathered from her, that 
Protestants and Catholics in that village attended the 
same school, under the supervision of their respective 
clergymen ; that the schoolmaster was a Protestant, 
and clerk of the new church, built by the Lady 



Chap. VI. EOSSHILL HOUSE. 77 

Elizabeth Clements ; that there was no warfare carried 
on between either the clergymen or their flocks ; and 
that the charitable acts of the fair guardian of this re- 
mote spot, had no reference to difference of creeds. As 
the clouds now began to break away, though there was 
still the rumbling of distant thunder among the far off 
hills, I left the cottage, and soon found myself at 
the park gate of Rosshill House, a seat of the Earl 
of Leitrim, the great proprietor of the district. This 
is an ancient inheritance, and descended to the two 
daughters of the last of the Berminghams, as co- 
heiresses, one of whom married the Earl of Leitrim, 
the other the Earl of Charlemont. My principal object 
being to visit the new church, I was directed, on 
entering the park, to take the path to the right, and 
was soon brought within view of this beautiful offering 
to the pure worship of God. It is small ; not cruciform, 
but surmounted at the east and west ends by crosses of 
stone. The belfry is of the ancient, simple style. The 
building occupies the summit of a gentle knoll, and 
around it is the churchyard, enclosed by ornamental 
paling, and planted with appropriate evergreens. The 
view, as you stand beneath the belfry, is wild and solitary. 
Solemn groves and lonely pastures are around, and in 
the distance are the waters of Lough Mask, and lofty 
ranges of wild mountains. The door of the church was 
open, and I entered, pausing, however, at the threshold 
to admire the extreme beauty of the interior. The roof 
was open, and of elaborate wood-work, prepared, I was 
informed, in London, at great cost. The principal 
timbers spring from well executed corbels, and are of 
oak. The font and pulpit are of stone, the altar of 
carved wood. Near the latter is also a stone sedilium 

e3 



78 THE SAXON IN IRELAND. Chap. VI. 

in the thickness of the wall. The font is of an early 
style, and adapted for immersion, resting on one massive 
octagon pillar. The church is lighted by five lancet 
windows on one side, and three on the other, all filled 
with stained glass. The eastern end is particularly 
handsome. Above, is a circular window in twelve com- 
partments, having a centre ; and, below this, three others 
of lancet form, of which the middle one represents the 
Crucifixion. Over the altar is an inscription, " Worthy 
is the Lamb to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, 
and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing" 
(Rev. v. 12.) ; and on the left of the altar is a window, 
on which are finely painted figures of Moses, Elias, 
and St. John the Baptist. The east end, and the 
three steps leading to it, are paved with encaustic tiles, 
and the remainder of the floor is of red and black tiles. 
The seats are suitably massive, and all open, containing 
about forty persons. The congregation consists of six 
of the police force stationed in the neighbourhood, and 
the inmates of the great house. The clergyman is the 
Rev. Mr. O Grady. The church is open for prayers 
every morning at half-past eight, and on saints' days 
at eleven o'clock. If to witness so much misery in 
passing over this fine island, has been a shock to every 
sense, yet here was a proof, how much could be done 
by individual exertion to obviate it. If half the self- 
sacrifices which have so nobly contributed to make 
Rosshill what it is, were submitted to from the same 
sense of duty elsewhere, what an immediate social 
revolution would take place in this unhappy country ! 
Truly it was delightful to witness the successful work- 
ings of a gentle and unobtrusive philanthropy, under- 
taken in a quiet corner of the world, where the simple 



Chap. VI. ROSSHILL HOUSE. 79 

consciousness of doing good as an offering of gratitude 
to the author of all good, could be the only stimulant to 
exertions, so nobly and so unostentatiously carried out. 
It appears that the noble lady alluded to, had the advice 
and encouragement of a friend in her design of build- 
ing here a fit temple, in which she and her people 
might worship the God of their fathers, according to the 
rites of the reformed faith. On a plain slab near the 
altar I observed the following inscription : — 



* 



IN MEMORY OF 

H. B. S., 

WHOSE EXAMPLE, 

ENCOURAGEMENT, AND ADVICE 

PROMOTED THE BUILDING OF THIS CHURCH. 



* 



HE DIED BEFORE IT WAS COMPLETED, 

XVII FEB. A.D. MDCCCXLVI. 

FOR THY SERVANT DEPARTED THIS LIFE 

IN THY FAITH AND FEAR, 

WE BLESS THY HOLY NAME, O LORD. 

The Hon. Mr. Skefrlngton here commemorated was 
a relative of the founder of this church, and her most 
intimate friend ; and one too, the remembrance of whose 
many excellent attainments and good qualities will long 
live in the hearts of all who had the pleasure of know- 
ing him. He died at Rome, just as he was entering on 
his career of usefulness, and was there buried. 

With reluctance I left these interesting precincts, and 

£ 4 



80 THE SAXON IN IRELAND. Chap. VI. 

at a slow pace made my way across the park, towards 
the spot where I was told were the ruins of the old 
abbey of Ross. The further I advanced, the more 
gloomy did the scene become. Not a human being 
crossed my path — no groups of cattle — no flocks of 
sheep were to be seen in the rank pastures, and no sound 
broke in upon the almost unnatural stillness save the 
hoarse croakings of an ill-boding raven. The air was 
oppressive. Heavy clouds, surcharged with rain, hovered 
over my head, and among the distant mountains was 
again heard the voice of the mighty thunder. I hurried 
forward. The path was scarcely perceptible, for the 
grass was long and rank, and wet with the preceding 
rains. At length, within the deep recesses of a grove 
of huge trees, I could trace the roofless gables of an an- 
cient building. I paused, for it was a singular scene of 
utter desolation : it was manifest that no part of this 
ancient establishment had escaped destruction, save por- 
tions of the church. Looking upon the place in all its 
solitary wildness, it was difficult to conceive that it had 
ever been the abode of living men ; and that the busy 
scenes of life, for such even a monastery presents, had 
ever been enacted here. The aspect c f this spot was 
as if it were not only totally deserted, but unknown. 
With a feeling of awe I approached nearer to the ruins. 
The dark clouds and the thick foliage cast an unwonted 
gloom over the place. Around the roofless building 
were many graves unfenced from the inroads of cattle 
or other animals. Many a cross of wood and stone was 
there — many a sculptured head-stone, overgrown with 
moss, rose from amid the green mounds, beneath which 
slept the mouldering remnants of many generations. 
Cautiously picking my way, I at length gained the other 



Chap. VI. ROSS ABBEY. 81 

side of the ruin, and stood in front of the ancient porch. 
It had been once handsome, and bore many marks of 
skilful workmanship ; but the hand of destruction as 
well as of time had been busy here. The entrance was 
half choked with rubbish and masses of disjointed stone- 
work. The noisome nettle and the henbane luxuri- 
ated, and out of the deep fissures in the walls grew 
masses of ivy and the spreading branches of an elder 
tree. Turning from the building, the view was still wild 
and solitary, but beautiful and unexpected. The waters 
of Lough Mask washed a pebbly strand not far from 
the spot where I stood. Two wooded islands cast their 
deep shadows on the lake ; and far to the left, bounding 
the broad expanse, rose the mountains of Kilbride and 
the towering cliffs of Glenbeg. As I gazed, heavy drops^ 
of rain began to fall, the clouds seemed heavy with mis- 
chief, and rolled onwards in long dark masses. In vain 
I looked around for some cottage or shed, into which I 
might hasten for shelter ; the rain began to fall heavily, 
and a flash of lightning, succeeded rapidly by a clap of 
thunder, which reverberated awfully among the rocks 
and woods, drove me at once through the half choked 
porch into the interior of the ruins, perchance some 
friendly corner might there present itself. I found my- 
self in the nave of the ancient conventual church. No 
portion of the roof was left : a large ash tree grew in 
the centre, luxuriating in the rich accumulations around ; 
and over the side walls thick masses of ivy clustered, 
affording me a precarious shelter. Standing close to 
the wall I looked around. What a scene of barbarous 
neglect ! Could it be possible that from this place, so de- 
secrated, the voice of prayer and praise could ever have 
ascended to the throne of the Most High ? Could holy 

£ 5 



82 THE SAXON IN IRELAND. Chap. VI. 

abbots and reverend fathers ever have consorted here, 
devoting their days to acts of Christian worship, and their 
nights to pious vigils ? My blood ran cold as my eye 
pierced the gloom and rested upon objects the most ab- 
horrent and disgusting. Large stones thrown from the 
walls were scattered around, and among them were the 
sad relics of bodies once instinct with life. I counted 
no less than sixty skulls ! To remain was impossible. 
Though vivid flashes of lightning threw a momentary 
glare around, and loud and continued bursts of thunder 
proclaimed the tempest at its height, I hastily left the 
spot, and as I gained the open glades of the park 
felt much relieved, that this my first and probably last 
visit to the old abbey of Ross was achieved. The man- 
sion of Rosshill is a mere dilapidated pile, with no ar- 
chitectural pretensions ; the situation is not pleasing, 
and the trees and evergreens grow in such un trimmed 
luxuriance around it, that it is half hidden from ob- 
servation. There are several excellent sites for a new 
house, and it is to be hoped, that the many capabilities 
of this domain will be developed by some spirited pro- 
prietor. I was informed that it is a joint possession of 
the two earls above named, which fact will account for 
its present neglected state. Rejoining my car in the 
village, we drove on through a limestone country, varied 
occasionally with rich pastures and corn fields, till we 
arrived at the spot where many gangs of hardy labour- 
ers were cutting the canal of communication between 
Loughs Mask and Corrib. Here, as at Galway, I stood 
contemplating with admiration the unwearied efforts of 
the workmen as they pursued their gigantic task. Pur- 
suing our course on good though narrow roads, and 
through a country somewhat flat, and divided into large 



Chap. VI. LOUGH MASK CASTLE. 83 

and fertile enclosures fenced with stone walls, we at 
length neared the shores of the lake, and on suddenly 
turning to the left, saw before us the tall and interesting 
fortalice known as Lough Mask Castle. A grove of 
lofty ash trees shelters it to the east ; on the west, the 
waves of the lake break against its walls. A large and 
apparently well cultivated farm surrounds it on the land 
side, and a large farm-house of superior pretensions, 
with ample agricultural buildings, has been erected 
about a stone's throw from the ancient dwelling. This 
tower or castle is evidently one of those embattled houses 
which were erected in the time of James I., and pro- 
bably on some forfeited estate regranted by the crown. 
Many such strong houses are scattered over the country, 
particularly in Ulster ; for James, in all his dealings with 
Ireland, proved himself a better friend to the peaceable 
inhabitants, than any of his more warlike predecessors. 
His grand object in dealing with this turbulent people 
was, to promote security and the arts of peace. He 
abolished the Brehon law or custom, by which every 
crime, however enormous, even murder itself, was pun- 
ished only by fine. He also abolished the absurd cus- 
toms of gavelkind and tanistry. The former is thus 
explained in Hume's History of England : — " Upon the 
death of any person, his land, by the custom of gavel- 
kind, was divided among all the males of the sept or 
family, legitimate and illegitimate ; and after partition 
made, if any of the sept died, his portion was not shared 
out among his sons, but the chieftain, at his discretion, 
made a new partition of all the lands belonging to that 
sept, and gave every one his share. As no man, by 
reason of this custom, enjoyed the fixed property of any 
land ; to build, to enclose, to plant, to cultivate, or to 

E 6 



84 THE SAXON IX IRELAND. Chap. VI. 

improve, would have been so much lost labour." As 
the Irish had been universally engaged in the rebellion 
against Elizabeth, a resignation of all the rights which 
had been formerly granted them to separate jurisdic- 
tions was rigorously exacted. Even a resignation of 
all private estates was required; and, when they were 
restored, the proprietors received them under such con- 
ditions as might prevent, for the future, all tyranny and 
oppression over the common people. The Irish were 
removed from the hills and fastnesses, and settled in 
the open country ; husbandry and the arts were taught 
them ; a fixed habitation secured, and plunder and rob- 
bery punished. " Such were the arts," continues the 
historian, " by which James introduced humanity and 
justice among a people who had ever been buried in 
the most profound barbarism. Noble cares, much su- 
perior to the vain and criminal glory of conquests, but 
requiring ages of perseverance and attention to perfect 
what had been so happily begun." It was at this aus- 
picious period, according to the dates found in the 
building, that Lough Mask Castle was erected ; but 
how little in the opinion of the founder, the benevolent 
designs of James were as yet perfected, one glance at 
the arrangements of this massive pile will at once con- 
vince us. It absolutely bristled with defences. Every 
angle but one, and that towards the lake, was fenced 
with strong projecting machicolations, and every portion 
of parapet between the embrasures of the battlements 
was pierced with shot holes. The castle was one com- 
pact and nearly square building, measuring probably, 
outside the walls, about seventy feet by fifty. A strong 
wall of defence surrounded and guarded it on the land 
side ; but, towards the lake, the rudely formed and mas- 



Chap. VI. LOUGH MASK CASTLE. 85 

sive walls, founded on the solid rock, and strengthened, 
by immense buttresses of unhewn stone, bid defiance to 
attack. Approaching the gate of the outer wall, which 
was also machicolated and flanked by shot holes, for- 
merly rendering approach dangerous, I entered and found 
myself in a kind of irregular courtyard, around which, 
built against the walls, were numerous outbuildings, in- 
tended, doubtless, for the use of a garrison, for stables 
and necessary offices for a large establishment. Before 
me, on the eastern side of the tower, was a strong door, 
giving admission to the interior. I passed through it 
into a guarded vestibule, then into a small outer hall, 
having a doorway on the right hand, leading to the 
porter's lodge, and another in front leading into the 
great hall, and from thence doubtless to the kitchens, 
cellars, and other offices appertaining thereto. The 
great hall, if such indeed it was, was half filled up with 
rubbish from the roof which had fallen in ; below were 
traces of spacious cellars hewn out of the solid rock. 
Returning to the outer hall, I found there, opposite 
to the entrance of the porter's room, an ample archway, 
conducting to the grand staircase, and certainly this 
staircase was a curious and elaborate piece of workman- 
ship. It is spacious, cylindrical in form, and of stone, 
and leads from the basement story to the battlements. 
Ascending this, I soon found myself in the grand living 
apartment. It occupied, with the exception of a small 
room that had been partitioned off from the projection 
of the staircase to the opposite wall, the whole space of 
the interior, and was upwards of thirty feet square, the 
walls that enclosed it being of great thickness. On the 
north side of this room, were two capacious fire-places 
with chimney pieces of stone, curiously sculptured, bear- 



86 THE SAXON IN IRELAND. Chap. VI. 

ing the dates of 1615 and 1618. On one was carved 
the names of " Thomas Bourke," " Elles Butler." The 
room had three windows strongly mullioned, and ex- 
hibiting traces of being formerly guarded with iron bars, 
both upright and transverse. From these windows were 
obtained the most extensive and lovely views over the 
lake, and the distant country to the north and west. 
The walls being splayed back, gave great space, and 
admitted abundance of light and air into the room ; in- 
deed, few modern drawing-rooms are equal to it in this 
respect. The western window, which was the largest, 
commanded an uninterrupted prospect over the lake, 
bounded on the other side by the mountains of Kilbride, 
and towering over these, in the far distance, the peaked 
summits of Connemara. Immediately in front, was the 
island of Balleencholly, which can also boast its castle 
and its abbey. As I stood in the deep recess enjoying 
this scene, the sun darting one gleam on the precipitous 
sides of Glenbeg on the opposite shore, disclosed those 
romantic arms of the lough, which, penetrating far into 
the interior of the country, and divided only by that 
wild mountain tract, approach the grand and solitary 
region where the almost inaccessible lake of Nafooey 
spreads its dark and lonely waters. While taking the 
dimensions of this room and making my observations, a 
sudden storm again swept from the mountains, throw- 
ing for the time a veil of mist over the lake and distant 
scenery. The rain descended in torrents, and looking 
for shelter, for the room in which I stood was open to 
the roof, I espied in the recess of the south window a 
small, narrow doorway, within which I hastily retreated. 
It had manifestly been formed for concealment, and a 
sliding panel in the wainscoting had doubtless ori- 



Chap. VI. LOUGH MASK CASTLE. 87 

ginally given access to the places with which it com- 
municated. As there was no chance of the storm soon 
passing away, I determined to explore the place, and to 
discover, if possible, the uses to which this suspicious- 
looking portal had been applied. One very slender 
arrow slit had alone lighted the narrow staircase, which 
I now began cautiously to descend. Ere I had accom- 
plished half a dozen steps it was perfectly dark. I 
groped my way ; a step was wanting, and I had nearly 
been precipitated downwards. At length there was a 
turn to the right, and a round hole scooped out of the 
thickness of the walls caused a rush of air into the pas- 
sage, and gave a vague and uncertain light. At the 
bottom two or three steps were again wanting, and 
clambering down cautiously, I found myself in a spacious 
vault, having no apparent egress but the one by which 
I had descended. Was this the dungeon of the fort- 
alice, and this the scene of some of those barbarous cru- 
elties, so often enacted in that age of lawless licence and 
feudal strife ? This private passage had doubtless served 
many purposes. It admitted of the perpetration of 
every kind of outrage, without the remotest chance of 
discovery. Persons obnoxious to the lords of the castle 
might be dragged from the chamber above, and here 
immured or summarily executed. In case of siege, a pri- 
vate outlet, either for aggression or escape, might be 
gained hence to the contiguous lake. In fine, the ima- 
gination had here full play ; and, in the various surmises 
and minute investigations, perchance I might find ad- 
ditional signs to confirm my ideas. Time fled rapidly, and 
the storm had passed away when I again stood in the 
large chamber. The sun now shone out, and the waters 
of the lough glittered in his beams. I ascended the 



88 THE SAXON IN IRELAND. Chap. VI. 

higher portion of the staircase, and found myself tread- 
ing the battlements of this " armed house." It was a 
glorious view that met my gaze. In days whether of 
warfare or tranquillity, one could not surely select a 
more desirable situation. The approach of an enemy 
might be discerned for miles, and there was no eminence 
near to give an opportunity of aggression. For a peace* 
ful hall it had every necessary recommendation. Water, 
rock, and wood, — islands, lakes, and mountains, — all 
contributed to the loveliness of the scene, and I felt as 
I stood on those battlements, that it augured ill of the 
taste and good judgment of the proprietor, to desert, and 
suffer to go to ruin, a residence replete with beauties 
and advantages. The platform of these battlements 
extends round the building, presenting everywhere 
arrow slits and shot holes, and places from which the 
inmates might annoy an enemy, though sheltered them- 
selves. The roof itself, now fallen in (proh pudor !), was 
probably raised on rafters, for on the exterior walls is a 
range of stone water pipes for carrying off the rains, 
which, projecting on every side, is highly ornamental. 
Much gratified with my day's excursion, I left the in- 
teresting precincts of Lough Mask Castle, and as the 
evening was drawing in, we drove rapidly towards Cong. 
The lands I passed through appeared fertile, stone walls 
predominated as fences, which gave a cold aspect to the 
country ; but, judging from the stock and the appearance 
of the crops, I should say, that a sound system of agri- 
culture is making progress in this fine district. 



CHAP. VII. 

LOUGH CORRIB. — A STORM. — INCHAGOIL. — TEMPLE -A-NEEVE. 
OUGHTERARD. 

The next day being devoted to an aquatic excursion 
on Lough Comb, and an examination of one or more 
of its islands, I was early astir, and after breakfast 
paid a parting visit to all that remains of the old 
abbey of Cong. The beautiful and perfect gateway 
I again lingered long to admire. It stood there un- 
changed, since the warlike Roderic O'Connor passed 
through it, to exchange a life of restless warfare 
and blighted ambition, for that peace and tranquillity, 
which a life of quiet piety is alone calculated to bestow. 
From the date of its first establishment in the seventh 
century, what vicissitudes must it have witnessed — 
what men of might and renown, in circumstances 
whether of weal or woe, must it have admitted within 
its walls ! How often, probably, has the wild clash of 
arms resounded in its peaceful courts, scared religion 
from her altars, and disturbed the musings of the lettered 
monk in his dim cloisters ! The contemplation of these 
sad but holy scenes suggests many thoughts, and gives 
rise to speculations, which to indulge in here, would 
grate fearfully upon the puritanic ears of modern days ; 
but I confess myself one of those, who view the general 



90 THE SAXON IN IRELAND. Chap. VII. 

reckless spoliation and destruction of these religious 
establishments with sorrow and indignation. At the 
period of their erection, they were the only safeguards 
for peace or security ; within their walls learning still 
lingered, however faintly ; the inmates were the only 
real cultivators of the soil ; they alone fed and educated 
the poor, moderated the pretensions of the arrogant 
chiefs, kept lawlessness in some check, punished and 
restrained crime by the exercise of spiritual power and 
discipline, and they stood between the people, and a 
state of the most fearful and hopeless barbarism : — 
Had maladministration of their funds or their powers 
been proved against them — had their practices given 
scandal to the rising intelligence of the country — had 
their doctrines and their usages become unpopular - - 
was there no other plan to adopt, but barefaced plun- 
der, injustice, and extermination? Some of them at 
least might have been preserved and reformed; men 
more acceptable to the altered state of society might 
have been elected to their offices ; their revenues, by a 
quiet and wholesome transition, might have aided in the 
general education of the people ; and what were once 
mere monastic institutions, confined in their objects, 
and perhaps in some cases useless, if not exceptionable 
in their practices, might have been continued, in all 
their territorial and architectural integrity, as colleges 
for the rich, seminaries for the poor, hospitals for the 
sick, and quiet retreats for the pious and the learned. 
The moral effect of such an appropriation who can 
doubt; and a heavy responsibility attaches to those, who 
thus sacked revenues given by the pious of former ages 
for public use, and who misapplied them to their own 
godless and selfish purposes. I left the abbey, and was 



Chap. VII. ASHFORD LODGE. — STRAND HILL. 91 

soon proceeding rapidly down the clear and powerful 
stream, which, after a long subterranean passage, hastens 
to pour its waters into Lough Corrib. The morning was 
bright and cheering, and the well-wooded and pic- 
turesque banks of the river looked charming as we 
passed along. Soon we gained that lovely seat of 
Lord O., known as Ashford Lodge. The houses, 
manifestly in a state of neglect, stood on a lawn to our 
right ; and a large and romantic domain, sheltered and 
ornamented by many varieties of trees and masses of 
evergreens and flowering shrubs, environed it as far as 
the eye could reach. Several vehicles were on the 
gravelled front, the hall door was open, and there ap- 
peared to be a stir within. " Are they about to repair 
the house ? " said I to the rower nearest to me. " Is 
it reparin', your honor manes ? " replied Mike Corragan ; 
"by all the powers, I believe they're going to sell 
intirely. My lord is short of money. I heerd Mr. 
J. say it's all going to be set up for sale in the 
Lumber Estate Court. By dad, then, I would wish yer 
honor would buy it ; it would be fine times for the like 
o' us, could we get English gentlemen into the country 
that had money in their pockets, and the heart to spend 
it." I thought so too, and had there been time (though 
no purchaser), I should have followed the example of 
the strangers with the vehicles, and inspected the house 
and domain. The park not only runs for a considerable 
distance along the banks of the river, but also follows 
the northern shores of the lake for nearly a mile. On 
the opposite side I observed a succession of fine woods 
and plantations surrounding the lovely retreat of Strand 
Hill, the property and residence of Thomas Elwood, 
Esq. The occurrence of these two fine domains on 



92 THE SAXON IN IRELAND, Chap. VII. 

each bank of the river, renders the egress from the lake 
into the Cong waters, peculiarly and strikingly pic- 
turesque. Leaving the river, we rowed through a lovely 
cluster of seven small islands, the largest of which, 
Illaunree, is about three acres in extent. Clearing these, 
we soon found ourselves on the broad expanse of this 
Lough, the largest in Ireland excepting Lough Neagh, 
which spreads over 98,000 acres, and is fourteen miles 
]ong and eleven broad. Corrib, however, is in every 
sense an inland sea ; and looking from the position we 
were now in, towards the east and south, the vast sur- 
face stretched away to the horizon, giving, where the 
shores are low, the idea of unlimited continuity. To 
the westward a spacious bay ran far inland, meeting the 
powerful streams of the Bealnabrack and Coramona 
valleys before mentioned, which are fed also from the 
other numerous glens of Joyce's Country. When we 
left Cong, nothing could be more promising than the 
state of the atmosphere on a fine morning ; and when I 
looked at the small and ill- constructed boat in which I 
was called upon to embark, but few misgivings at the 
moment crossed my mind, seeing all so calm above and 
below. But I would advise all future travellers not to 
launch themselves on these waters except in a stout 
four-oared boat. I had given no orders on the subject, 
and the result was, my setting forth in a kind of cockle- 
shell concern, manned by two boatmen only. We had 
not left the seven islands behind us more than a quarter 
of an hour, when a low wailing sound like distant wind, 
and suspicious gusts, began to creep over the water, and 
ruffle its hitherto serene surface. Surprised, and per- 
haps a little startled, I cast my eyes westward, and saw 
heavy clouds like those of the preceding day, when I 



Chap. VII. STORM ON LOUGH CORRIB. 93 

was at Ross Abbey, advancing in masses from the 
heights of Benleva and that lofty range which divides 
the Maam district from the distant Glen Inagh. It had 
been a halcyon calm, as was soon proved. Having re- 
sided occasionally among lake scenery, I was well aware 
of the often dangerous nature of the navigation of these 
loughs, and how frequently sudden squalls from the 
mountains have overwhelmed the incautious adventurer, 
and consigned him to a watery grave. It was not, 
therefore, without anxiety that I looked ahead, and 
saw, but at too great a distance for affording immediate 
shelter, the large island of InchagoiL Another island, 
Cleenillaun, was to our right ; but the boatmen said, if 
the squall came down, we could not face the waves so as 
to make good our retreat thither. Our only chance, 
therefore, was to make Inchagoil. And verily the squall 
did "come down" in right good earnest. Thinking and 
conjecturing were now useless ; it behoved us to be 
stirring and active, for the wind began to blow in 
fearful and fitful gusts, and the angry rippling of the 
surface of the lough, increasing into yet more angry 
waves, promised, ere the storm was over, a too close 
resemblance to the ocean swell. Our little bark was 
tossed on the now rolling billows ; one side rising high 
out of the water, while the other seemed as if it would 
dip below it. The men, nothing daunted, stripped to 
their shirts, and, rolling the sleeves over their elbows set 
right earnestly to work. Anxiously I looked upwards, 
perchance any break in the clouds might give promise 
of the storm abating : but no ; sullen, leaden-coloured 
masses hurried along ; and, as I cast my eyes around, not 
an island, not a distant mountain, not a vestige of the 
shore was soon to be seen, but all was as wild and 



94 THE SAXON IN IRELAND Chap. VII. 

cheerless, as if we had been tossing in the midst of the 
far Atlantic. Hark ! what an awful peal of thunder 
was that bursting on the heights of Benleva, and re- 
sounding through all its precipices and glens ! The 
storm now rages above us. Oh ! when shall we reach 
Inchagoil? It was indeed an awful scene, and one I 
cannot easily forget. There we were, tossing help- 
lessly > almost hopelessly, in the centre of that wide ex- 
panse — the waves below greedy, as it were, to swallow 
us — the wild war of the elements above eager to over- 
power us. Our only chance was to keep the boat close 
to the waves; but then the surf, which now began to 
curl the tops of the billows, often broke over the bow 
of our boat, and caused us to ship large quantities of 
water. My office it was to bale this out as quickly as 
I could ; and, in truth, I was not sorry to thus occupy 
myself, as it diverted my observation from the con- 
fusing scene around us. The heavy rain too now began 
to pelt us bitterly ; but I had so well provided myself 
with " patent appliances " for these emergencies, that so 
far I was scatheless. I was thus also enabled to cover 
the clothes of the boatmen with my ample cape, so as 
to secure the poor fellows the comfort of a dry jacket 
when the turmoil was over. " Hurroo ! " said Mike, 
turning round for an instant, and directing his gaze 
over the bow of the boat; "by the mortial, there is 
Inishannagh Cliff, and that is but a stone's throw from 
Inchagoil. Arrah Pat, darling, pull strong on your 
side, and we shall be safe under Berry Island in the 
strike of a minute." It was a long minute certainly; 
but everything in this lively land allows for exaggeration. 
Thus an Irish mile and an Irish acre are both on an 
enlarged scale. It was a lovely little bay which we 



Chap. VII. BERRY ISLAND. — INCHAGOIL. 95 

were now entering, and so protected by a small island 
to the westward, called Berry Island, that the water 
was comparatively smooth, and we now felt in perfect 
security. The clouds, too, began to break away ; the 
rain ceased ; the sun darted his warm and cheerful rays 
once more upon the scene, and my thoughts were lifted 
up in thankfulness to the Most High, and mentally with 
the Psalmist did I exclaim, " Give the Lord the honour 
due unto His name ; worship the Lord with holy wor- 
ship. It is the Lord that commandeth the waters : it is 
the glorious God that maketh the thunder." The island 
of Inchagoil, on which we now landed, near some ruined 
cottages, has no bold or prominent aspect from the lake. 
It stretches along, as you view it at a distance, as one 
continued ridge of low elevation ; but, on exploring it, 
I found that it was not strictly so. At the eastern and 
western extremities it rises, in the latter almost perpen- 
dicularly, to an elevation of nearly eighty feet from the 
level of the water. Though the cottages seemed de- 
serted, yet occupants there were, certainly, on the 
island; for, as usual in Ireland when a stranger ap- 
proaches, some persons engaged in a distant field left 
their labour and came to give us the greeting. On in- 
quiry, I found they were persons employed by the lessee, 
Mr. L., to till the lands and watch the stock. Not 
being able, however, to extract any information from 
them, I declined their services, and proceeded alone on 
my tour of discovery. This island of Inchagoil was one 
of those taken possession of by the early Irish saints, 
and is supposed to have been honoured by the actual 
presence of St. Patrick. To him, certainly, the church 
existing here in ancient times was dedicated, and the 
ruins still bear his name. Leaving the shore, and pro- 



96 THE SAXON IN IRELAND. Chap. VII. 

ceeding into the interior, I soon arrived at some ruins *, 
inconsiderable as to size, and rendered more so in ap- 
pearance by the rank luxuriance of briers, weeds, and 
nettles by which they were half concealed. Making my 
way as well as I could through these obstacles, I entered 
under a small but perfect archway into an enclosed area, 
about eighteen feet long by thirteen wide. What this 
has been, whether the outer entrance to monastic build- 
ings, or a portion of a church, I could not decide ; but 
the former is probably the case, as I found the scanty 
remains of St. Patrick's church about a stone's throw 
from the building I was now examining. Opposite to 
the first archway is another, but smaller, which doubt- 
less led to other buildings, as considerable foundations 
are visible, and heaps of dressed stones are scattered 
about the adjoining ground. Both these doorways are 
circular. Climbing without difficulty the highest por- 
tion of the walls, which are fortunately held firmly 
together by the clinging ivy, I contemplated from thence 
a magnificent prospect. Not a cloud was in the heavens ; 
the atmosphere was clear and bright ; and the eye wan- 
dered with delight over a scene, the vastness and the 
lovely combinations of which it is difficult to conceive. 
To the south-west, mountain towered above mountain, 
peak above peak ; deep valleys perforated their recesses, 
and the arms of the lake were seen penetrating far in- 
land, till lost in distance and gloom. To the south 
and east the waters of the lough stretched far away, and 
sometimes it was difficult to trace the low eastern shore 
on the horizon. Many islands varied the now placid 



* These remains are designated in the Ordnance Survey, " Temple>a- 

Neeve." 






Chap. VII. SCENERY OF THE WEST OF IRELAND. 97 

bosom of the lake, and immediately before me rose the 
hill of Grlan, on the western shore ; below which, and 
stretching over a bold promontory, was the wood of 
Annagh ; and far away in the same direction was visible 
the smoke of Oughterard, rising from its lovely vale. 
But the attempt to describe such scenes is vain : I know 
I must have wearied you with such frequent, but very 
imperfect details ; but to travel through such a country 
as this, and altogether to pass by its picturesque beau- 
ties, would be unjust. Besides, I feel that persons of 
warm imaginations would never think of settling in the 
flats of Holland or Lincolnshire, though the richness of 
the land and the pecuniary benefits to be derived there- 
from are most manifest. Beautiful scenery will have its 
influence on the mind of an emigrant, and I do not 
therefore think that my frequent notices of the general 
aspect of the country will by any means be lost. There 
is a freshness, a cheerfulness, a constant variety, a union 
of softness and grandeur about the scenery of the West 
of Ireland, that, to my mind, make it one of the most 
desirable places of settlement in the world. The more 
beautiful, sometimes, the more unproductive, is often 
remarked ; but not so here. The mountains often afford 
the finest pasture, and the valleys the richest soil. 
"And so," thought I, as I gazed around the island, 
" this is one of the chosen seats of early learning and 
piety in this extraordinary land. These saints truly 
had good taste, and chose well ; and why not ? Why 
should not the successors of St. Patrick rejoice in these 
lovely and sequestered spots, as well as pagan philoso- 
phers in the shades of Academus ? If superior learn- 
ing did not guide the possessors to choose the most 
eligible sites for their establishments, one might be in- 

F 






98 THE SAXON IN IKELAND. Chap. VII. 

clined to doubt their pretensions." From my position I 
had a bird's-eye view of the whole island ; and could I do 
otherwise than gaze upon it with interest ? Nine cen- 
turies ago, the feet of Ireland's great saint and true 
benefactor had probably trod this strand ; there, where 
a solitary remnant, a massive doorway, stands alone in the 
centre of a small cemetery, was the spot where, like 
Joseph of Arimathea at Glastonbury, he fixed his staff, 
and announced to his devoted compatriots, that here must 
be erected a temple to the honour of the God of the 
Christians. And there it was erected ; and all that bar- 
barism has left of it gives convincing proof of the fact, 
for the doorway, the only sad remnant, is of the very 
earliest age of Celtic architecture, and therefore strength- 
ens, if not confirms the tradition. And what has been 
the history of this island in consecutive ages ? Who, 
indeed, can tell I for rich as Ireland is in every kind of 
historical record, bearing upon her surface the un- 
doubted marks of successive races and great internal 
changes, from the time of the Druids to the cruel con- 
quest of Cromwell, there is perhaps no country where 
the traditions are less carefully preserved, or the monu- 
ments of past history less prized and understood. — De- 
scending from my elevation, I endeavoured, but in vain, 
to trace out the old foundations, in order that I might 
obtain some clue to the plan and uses of the structure. 
Many vestiges of walls were observable, particularly 
westward of the ruins; but they merely signified 
the extent, not the appropriation of the buildings. 
Somewhat removed, and nearer to the shore of the 
lough, I discovered what appeared to have been stews 
for fish, — a usual accompaniment in monastic arrange- 
ments. Looking, therefore, at these ruins, their posi- 



Chap. VII. ST. PATRICK'S CEMETERY. 99 

tion, architecture, precincts, and propinquity to St. 
Patrick's church, I decided that here, in remote times, 
stood a religious establishment ; but of what order, 
whether for monks or nuns, whether an abbey, a priory, 
or a cell, I could not even conjecture ; nor have I been 
able to discover any certain traces of these facts in any 
of the books I have hitherto consulted. That it was a 
small monastic house, dependent upon the powerful and 
neighbouring abbey of Cong, seems not improbable. It 
was but a step through the moist rank grass to the an- 
cient cemetery of St. Patrick. As I stood by that rudely 
constructed doorway, which had stood the ravages of so 
many centuries, the stillness around was in accordance 
with the scene, and the sensations it evoked. An un- 
clouded sun diffused through the atmosphere universal 
light and warmth, but not the twitter of a bird, not the 
hum of an insect, broke the solemn calm ; not a breath 
of air stirred the long grassy stalks, or whispered round 
the quoins of this ancient and holy portal. My imagina- 
tion retraced the lapse of centuries, and I fell, as before, 
into many interesting, but irregular and undefined 
musings. The strange and wayward history of the 
human family ; the incongruity of human actions ; the 
follies, the foibles, the virtues of our race — fallen, in- 
deed, from a better state, but recoverable still; the 
intensity of human selfishness ; the blindness of preju- 
dice ; the too easy perversion of simple truths and right 
principles ; the unreasonable aggressions of power ; the 
fatal obstinacy of weakness or error. Perhaps the his- 
tory of this little island, did I but know it, would prove 
all this. Many and violent vicissitudes it must have 
seen : at one time the quiet abode of piety and com- 
parative civilisation ; at another, the scene of intole- 

F 2 



100 THE SAXON IN IRELAND. Chap. VII. 

ranee, persecution, and bloodshed : now, the inaccessible 
retreat of the lawless plunderer, the daring contrabandist, 
the convicted felon, or the hunted rebel ; again, the 
peaceful home of the thrifty agriculturist, or of the 
shepherd and his patient flock. At present, it is unin- 
habited. Its church, its cloisters, and its humble dwell- 
ings are alike roofless and in ruins ; and, except when 
the labourer is sent from the neighbouring shore to sow 
or to reap a small portion of its more fertile soil, this 
island is deserted, its beauties uncoveted, its existenc 
almost unknown ! Not far from the doorway of St. 
Patrick's church, and partly buried in mould and grass, 
is an ancient stone, over whose surface have crept the 
many-coloured lichens and moss of the finest texture. 
Still an inscription is there, yet unerased; and it is 
doubly valuable, as setting at rest the various conjec- 
tures as to the date of these ruins. The inscription 
runs thus i — 

" Lie lugnaedon mace, 
Lmenuek." 

i. e. — The stone of Lugmaedon, son of Limenuek. It 
has been pretty clearly ascertained, from ancient sources, 
that this Lugmaedon was a disciple, if not a nephew, of 
St. Patrick, and was probably settled here by that mis- 
sionary bishop, as he was wont in his travels thus to 
dispose of his followers, dispersing them every where 
that they might convert the barbarous tribes immediately 
around them. The name, too, by which this island is 
known in these parts is corroborative : — " Inis an 
Ghoell Chraibhthogh," i. e. The island of the devout 
foreigner. It is now denominated " Inchagoile," or 
Island of the Gaul. The doorway, of which I have so 



' 



Chap. VII. ANCIENT STONE OF LUGMAEDON. 101 

often made mention, is of the most ancient form and 
workmanship known in Ireland. It has a heavy 
stone lintel, with inclined sides, the bottom of the 
opening being wider than the top. It is two feet wide 
below, one foot nine inches above. The stonework is 
strongly and compactly fitted together, but without 
cement ; which is the case in the earliest stages of 
architecture. Descending from hence by a gentle slope, 
I came upon a flat, or a small plain, extending from one 
side of the island to the other. It was a mere mass of 
pebbly ground, unfit for cultivation, and had manifestly, 
at some remote period, been covered by the waters of 
the lake. Crossing this, I ascended the western point 
of the island, which rises abruptly on both sides, and 
commands a splendid panorama of almost boundless 
extent. This is also either poor, or very exhausted 
land, and fit only to be planted. From hence, the whole 
circumference of Inchagoile is visible. The shores are 
pleasingly irregular, jutting out into promontories, and 
these again forming pleasant little bays, often frequented 
by fishermen, either for fishing or for shelter. The 
eastern end of the island appeared the most fertile ; 
there the grass grew in unshorn luxuriance, and the 
blackness and richness of the mould gave tokens of long 
cultivation. I paused on my return to the boat to bid a 
a long, perhaps a last farewell to those interesting vestiges 
of, I had almost said a better age ; — but no, I beg to cor- 
rect myself, we may not compare darkness with light, 
civilisation with barbarism. Corragan the boatman 
joined me, and, pointing to the ancient stone of Lug- 
maedon, I asked him if he could tell me anything about 
it. " Och, sure," said he, without hesitation, " its the 
giant's grave. He was so mighty tall that he could 



P 3 



102 THE SAXON IN IEELAND. Chap. VII. 

wade "half the way over the Lough and swim the rest 
whenever it plazed him to go a nutting in the wood of 
Annagh yonder." " And what was his name, Mike?" 
said I, willing to hear more of his tradition. " Faix, 
myself don't know at all," replied he, " but I've been 
tould he was a foreigner, and that his name in the 
parchiments was spelled a yard long, and so it should 
be, sure, considering how tall he was." From this in- 
teresting island to Oughterard, whither I had ordered 
my letters to be forwarded, the voyage was pleasant, 
and presented many beautiful objects. We caught a 
glimpse of Currarevagh House, and skirting the western 
shore in our progress, had a near view of those many 
townlands which, reaching from the summit of the hills 
to the shore of the lake, offer promising investments to 
those who feel inclined to settle in this improving dis- 
trict. It is a portion of the domain of the Martins of 
Ballinahinch, and will soon come under the operations 
of the Encumbered Estates Act. Purchasers would 
doubtless have been found at first for these very im- 
provable lots ; but the prices demanded were under the 
circumstances next to a prohibition. These lands lie 
well for draining, and having a communication with the 
lake will find an accessible market at Galway. There 
are many loughs among the hills, and there is abund- 
ance of water for irrigation or other purposes. The 
geological features of this district have been already 
partially described. As we rowed quietly along we 
passed a small island covered with the most beautiful 
verdure. A group of cattle were reclining, a la Cuyp, 
on the summit of a picturesque knoll, while a herd of 
goats were quietly browsing among some rocks. From 
another islet we roused an eagle, which had doubtless 



Chap. VII. OUGHTERARD. 1 03 

pounced down there upon his quarry. He rose ma- 
jestically and slowly, and winged his course towards the 
distant hills of Connemara. We now entered the mouth 
of the river Feogh, which emerges from the long line of 
lakes extending in curious succession from Ballinahinch 
nearly to Lough Corrib. About half a mile from the 
lake we reached the town of Oughterard. Stepping on 
shore with a light and thankful heart, and not a little 
pleased at the prosperous issue of my excursion, I 
reached the small but not uncomfortable inn, which, as 
is not unfrequently the case in these remote parts, is 
conjoined with the general shop of the district. Here 
I found my letters, the contents of which at once al- 
tered my plans, and compelled my immediate return 
to England, towards which dear home, if I must speak 
the truth, notwithstanding all the scenes of interest I 
had passed through, "my heart still fondly turned." 



F 4 



104 



CHAP. YIIL 

RETURN. — REMARKS ON IRELAND. — PREPARATIONS FOR 
EMIGRATION. 

It was a joyous greeting that I received from my dear 
family, when I once more found myself beneath the pa- 
ternal roof. Though the absence in reality was short, 
to them it had appeared long, and they bad begun to 
fear, from the somewhat enthusiastic tenor of my letters, 
that my tour would be prolonged. It was not long be- 
fore my kind friend the Curate joined us, eager to bear 
a thousand particulars, and anxious to discover the re- 
sult of my observations as connected with our future 
plans. " But," said he, archly, " I think there is no 
secret to communicate, — we may fairly judge from all 
you have written to us, the warmth of which I confess 
surprised me, that the Antipodes are at a discount. 
This delightful and convenient Mullingar railroad has 
lost Australia or the Canadas a right worthy and de- 
sirable emigrant. To reach Galway from London in 
four-and-twenty hours certainly sets a new face on 
things, and the Irish may depend upon this, that in 
spite of their factions, their politics, and their religious 
squabbles, the English ere long will discover how much 
better it is to settle in Donegal or Mayo, than to seek 
their fortunes beneath burning suns, or in the land of 
the wild Indian. Now my dear friend," continued 



Chap. VIII. REMARKS ON IRELAND. 105 

the Curate, " answer me this question, fairly and ho- 
nestly : with such a country as Ireland close at hand, 
notwithstanding all her faults, do you think any man 
in his right senses would ever think of seeking a settle- 
ment in New Zealand, at the Cape, or Port Philip ?" "I 
think not," replied I ; " and I may as well say at once, 
that my mind is made up to select our new home in the 
land I have so recently left. I cannot say that I have 
met with the exact place as yet ; but it is my inten- 
tion to return in the ensuing spring or summer, and to 
resume my researches till I have made choice of our 
location. I do not hesitate to confess that Ireland, in the 
fertility of its soil, the kindness and hospitality of its 
people, and the beauty of its scenery, has far surpassed 
my expectations. I am decidedly of opinion, too, that 
fortune, respectability, and happiness may be found 
even there." " I never doubted it," said the Curate, 
" and felt well assured that your absurd English pre- 
judices (pardon me) would speedily wear away, when 
you saw with your own eyes, and used your own judg- 
ment. Let a few English families cluster together, 
purchase, or take on lease, estates in the same neigh- 
bourhood, hold together, mutually assisting each other, 
* keeping the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace,' 
as the Apostle advises, acting kindly and justly to the 
inhabitants, eschewing politics, not meddling with the 
religion of others, but quietly practising their own ; I 
repeat, let emigrant families act thus, and I, for one, 
would prefer Green Erin as a settlement to any country 
on the globe. And why not ? Are sensible men to be 
scared with the interested exaggerations of unpatriotic 
speakers and writers, who would gladly drive industry 
and civilization from their native shores in order to 

F 5 



106 THE SAXON. IN IRELAND. Chap. VIII. 

serve their own purposes ? Are the Irish worse than 
John Heki, and other native chiefs ? or are they more 
relentless than the Caffres, or the red Indians, or the 
cannibals of North Australia ? In nine cases out of ten, 
their crimes, deep and fearful as they are, have sprung 
from the sense of injury, and from the heartless system 
under which they live, — or rather under which they 
starve.' These days of injustice and crime are passing, 
though slowly, away, and the time is approaching when 
Ireland must and will be in the strictest union with her 
sister island — when the same laws, the same usages, the 
same language, the same feelings will prevail in both, 

and when " " And when," said I, interrupting him, 

" the curse of absenteeism will cease, since the power 
of steam has almost annihilated distance, and now brings 
the Irish proprietor within a few hours' journey of the 
English metropolis." " True," continued the Curate, 
" the effects of this facility of intercourse will soon be 
felt: as yet, the Englishman lingers, hesitates, hugs his 
old prejudices ; but the bolder few are already at work, 
they are silently and most advantageously purchasing 
lands and houses ; they see the horizon clearing away 
after the long storm, and they and their descendants 
will, no doubt, reap a plenteous harvest. Gradually, 
others will follow, till I verily believe, Ireland will be 
the fashion, as Scotland has lately been, and everybody 
rushing that way will wonder why they delayed so long." 
I smiled at my friend's enthusiasm, but felt there was 
much of probability and truth in his rhapsody. As it 
was now a settled point that we were to leave the family 
place, and seek another and a distant home, we naturally 
turned our minds somewhat towards preparations. The 
property in shire was duly placed in the hands of 



Chap. VIII. PREPARATIONS FOR EMIGRATION. 107 

a London agent for disposal ; arrangements were made 
for the sale of the farming stock and implements in the 
ensuing spring, and all the field operations had now re- 
ference to some new possessor. The children, with that 
buoyancy of feeling so natural to their age, mournful 
as was to them at times the thought of leaving the place 
of their birth, yet prepared with ardour and interest for 
the change. Assisted by our kind friend the Curate, 
the two elder boys pursued those studies which we 
thought most useful and practical, such as geology, mi- 
neralogy, chemical agriculture, &c. ; and the girls en- 
deavoured to accomplish themselves in all those little 
domestic arts so necessary to the emigrant's comfort in 
his home amid the waste. It was when for the last 
time probably in England, certainly for the last time in 
our now doubly prized and long accustomed home, we 
kept the festival of Christmas, that feelings long sup- 
pressed burst forth, and the very efforts we all made 
to wear at least the semblance of cheerfulness, increased 
rather than dissipated the gloom. Fervently do I pray 
that such a case as ours may not be general among the 
agriculturists and yeomanry of England; but under 
present legislation, cases such as these will and must be 
common where encumbrances exist, or where the farmer 
has not the command of capital. I know not in what 
manner our feelings, on that usually happy day, would 
have vented themselves, had not the Curate been our 
sympathising guest, and gently reprehended what in his 
heart he could not condemn. " Come, come my friends," 
said he in his usual cheerful tone, " do not thus waste 
those spirits which ere long you will be called upon to 
devote to better objects than regrets that are unavailing. 
If you were about to embark in a leaky ship, and with 

F 6 



108 THE SAXON IN IRELAND. Chap. VIII. 

an ignorant and barbarous crew on the wide Atlantic, 
and to bid adieu, as most of our emigrants do, to their 
native land for ever, then I would sit by as overwhelmed 
with sorrow and distress as any of you ; but far dif- 
ferent is your case. A delightful and easy mode of con- 
veyance to the ocean shore, a mere strait to cross, a 
splendid city to visit ; and then, in a few hours more, 
still journeying among old historical scenes and familiar 
faces, you arrive at your destination. You cannot call 
this banishment, when the same breezes blow over both 
islands — the same laws are observed, and the same legis- 
lature governs, and exchange of communication is the 
work of only a few hours ? I see, " continued he, smil- 
ing, " sundry eyes directed around this favourite room 
and its old familiar furniture, as much as to say, ' you 
see what we are leaving.' But there again you are 
wrong: the old oak chairs, this inlaid table, the ca- 
binet yonder, so prized and admired, nay, the very 
piano and carpet ; and if it so pleases you, even puss 
herself, who is purring in her sleep as if she knew the 
happiness that awaited her, all these shall go too, and 
many a time will you forget that you are not still in 
your English home, or at any rate you will each day 
learn to regret it less." Thus encouraging and soothing 
us, and aiding our operations in every possible way, our 
kind friend assisted in whiling the winter away. Our 
minds became at length more accustomed to our pro- 
spects, and I felt a satisfaction inwardly in the convic- 
tion, that I should at least leave my native land an 
honest man, and, wherever destiny might take me, I 
could commence the world again with an independent 
spirit, and an unblemished name. 



109 



CHAP. IX. 

SECOND JOURNEY INTO IRELAND. — EDGEWORTHSTOWN. — 

STROKESTOWN. MR. PACKENHAM MAHON. CASTLEBAR. 

— THE EARL OF LUC AN. 

It was on a fine morning in June, that I found myself 
at Mullingar once more ; but, instead of taking the 
Gralway route, I determined to visit Castlebar, and from 
thence to penetrate further westward into the county of 
Mayo. With the exception of Edgeworthstown, Long- 
ford, and Strokestown, there was nothing in this route 
that particularly claimed my attention. As being the 
residence of one whose name will be honoured as long 
as Ireland endures, Edgeworthstown was to me full of 
deep interest ; and as I passed by that mansion where 
the authoress of Castle Rackrent lived and died, and 
found myself amid scenes so graphically portrayed by 
her matchless pen, I could not help regarding the spot 
as almost classic ground. The house is a plain family 
mansion, well sheltered by trees, seated in a small park, 
and bearing marks, in all its arrangements, of order and 
neatness. The town, generally, wore the same appear- 
ance. It was more English than any I had hitherto 
seen, Ballinasloe perhaps excepted, and plainly proves 
that there is nothing in the habits of this people, when 
taught and duly influenced, to prevent them from living 
comfortably and creditably. Richard Lovell Edgeworth, 
Esq., once the accomplished and clever proprietor of 



110 THE SAXON IN IRELAND. Chap. IX. 

this town and neighbourhood, is well known in the 
literary world. As an engineer, also, his talents were 
exerted for the good of his country; and his Report, 
addressed to the Commissioners on Bogs in Ireland, is a 
standing monument of his mechanical skill and just 
observation. Mr. Edgeworth was himself a great im- 
prover, and in his Report he satisfactorily proves that 
the extensive district of the river Inny, near his own 
estate, once supposed to be irreclaimable, was to 
to be brought into profitable cultivation at a com- 
paratively small outlay. In the central parts of Ire- 
land the bogs possess one great advantage ; they mostly 
lie on a substratum of white marl or blue lime-stone 
clay. An analysis of the former gives, according 
to Mr. Edgeworth, 44 per cent, of carbonate of lime, 
and l± per cent, of carbonate of magnesia ; of the latter, 
87 per cent, of carbonate of lime ; the remainder, in 
both cases, consisting of alumine and silex. Of course, 
in different places, these quantities may vary. Facts are 
worth preserving ; and as Mr. Edgeworth gives the Com- 
missioners the benefit of his own experience in an attempt 
at improvement made on his own property, it may not 
be amiss to preserve the same in these pages. The bog 
or moor in question consisted of twenty-seven acres. 
He enclosed it with a seven-feet ditch, cut down to the 
white clay where necessary, to preserve a fall for the 
water; in other places the drain was not cut to the 
bottom of the bog, only a few slight surface drains of 
small dimensions were made in proper places. The bog, 
which could now bear cattle, was ploughed and burned, 
yielding a large quantity of red ashes ; a coat of lime- 
stone gravel, of an inch and a half in thickness, was 
spread on one third of this ground, another third was 



Chap. IX. EDGEWORTHSTOWN. 1 1 1 

covered with quick-lime, the remaining third with marl. 
The experiment succeeded perfectly ; no material differ- 
ence appearing in the returns made by the three por- 
tions, for the five years Mr. E. occupied it. " I never," 
says Mr. E., " had 100/. capital employed. After five 
years, every expense being deducted, I had gained a 
clear seventeen pounds ; and at that period, the land 
being in meadow, I let it to a farmer at thirty shillings 
per acre, on a lease for his own life ; and it is now worth 
double that rent." Evidence of this kind is valuable, 
coming from so credible a source. I regretted that my 
time would not allow me to examine the present state 
of the land thus improved ; but probably there might, 
after so long an interval, have been some difficulty in 
identifying the spot. The country around Edgeworths- 
town is not attractive. Much of it is low and swampy, 
lying on the banks of that sluggish stream, the Inny ; 
and the number of poplars do not add to the beauty of 
the country. Passing through Longford, which, for 
Ireland, is a good town, though situated on a wide plain 
somewhat cheerless in its aspect, we passed through a 
dreary country for several miles, crossing the Shannon 
at Termonbarry by two bridges, and we then entered 
the county of Roscommon. Much of the country in 
this barren district reminded me of what Chat Moss, in 
Lancashire, was many years ago. The facilities, how- 
ever, for reclamation appear greater, and much of the 
land might be profitably irrigated. The Shannon does 
not here appear to advantage. It exhibits, certainly, 
a powerful body of water ; but its course is through a 
flat, marshy, and boggy country, as far as the eye can 
reach. I was fortunate enough to have, as a travelling 
companion, an agent of Mr. Packenham Mahon, the 



112 THE SAXON IN IRELAND. Chap. IX. 

heir of the unfortunate Major Mahon, who was cruelly 
murdered near this place. He kindly afforded me much 
information, and when I arrived at Strokestown, com- 
missioned the superintendent of police, an intelligent 
person, to show me the house and any part of the domain 
I might wish to visit. I spent a short time here very 
profitably. The proprietor is improving his estates on a 
large scale, and I witnessed the various operations for 
reclaiming the bogs while being actually carried out, and 
with wonderful success. Land, which but a short time 
ago was impassable, was now rendered firm enough for 
the heaviest cattle ; and the crops were, on many por- 
tions, most promising. Again, as I looked upon the 
busy scene around me, I could not help regretting that 
emigration was so rapidly robbing the country of that 
class of hardy labourers which, ere long, will be doubt- 
less so much required. The plans now pursuing on this 
fine and extensive property are judicious. The old 
boundaries and little wretched holdings are gradually 
swept away, and the lands are laid out with a view to 
larger occupation. Main drains are dug out for long 
distances, which serve also for fences ; and in the low 
grounds and valleys deep trenches are cut, so as to 
ensure a fall of water, and lay dry many hundred acres 
of swampy land. This is, altogether, an improving 
property; and the enterprising farmer might find in 
this district ample remuneration for his outlay. The 
park, once the property of Lord Hartland, is prettily 
varied in its surface, and abundantly timbered. In the 
village, however, I observed, to my great surprize, a 
lamentable amount of wretchedness; and the beggars 
were more numerous and clamorous here than I had 
found them elsewhere. The policeman informed me 



Chap. IX. CASTLEBAR. 113 

that the most dangerous characters in the neighbourhood 
had been driven out, and that emigration had been ex- 
cessive. This is, really, the country of anomalies ; 
looking at the successful issue of the improvements 
already made, and the extent of those in progress, one 
might reasonably have expected to find the whole popu- 
lation employed. I could not help remarking their 
extreme wretchedness, as we travelled along; many of 
the cabins were totally unfit for human habitation, yet 
still many tracts of the finest land were to be observed, 
promising abundance and comfort for all ! Are we to 
attribute this sad condition of things wholly to the state 
of the law ? I think not. Something must be in the 
people themselves ; much in the position of the owners 
of the land. To me, the whole of this day's observa- 
tions were perplexing. Sure I am, however, that with 
an English population these things could not be. It 
was late when we arrived at Castlebar, and I took up 
my quarters at an inn near the church, overlooking a 
handsome green, planted with trees, and surrounded by 
good houses and public buildings ; but, as usual in this 
untidy country, several ruined and roofless buildings 
were intermixed with them, such as the wretched old 
gaol, spoiling the general effect. In this town, the 
French army, under General Humbert, in 1798, drove 
back the government forces, making it their head-quar- 
ters for several days. There are some good shops here, 
and much retail business is transacted. The barracks, 
in which were quartered the gallant 88th regiment, well 
known in Spain and elsewhere as " the Connaught 
Rangers," are spacious and clean, substantially built 
in a square, and offering accommodation to a consider- 
able body of troops. Adjoining are the grounds sur- 



114 THE SAXON IN IRELAND. Chap. IX. 

rounding " The Lawn," a residence of the Earl of Lucan, 
who is the great proprietor of the district. His lordship 
is also an improver on a large scale. The system he is 
pursuing is much the same as that which I noticed at 
Strokestown; destroying many of the small holdings, 
and laying out his lands for larger occupation. There 
certainly appears, at first, no small amount of hardship 
inflicted by this mode of proceeding ; but it must ulti- 
mately work well for the people themselves, and tend 
materially to rescue them from their present state of 
degradation. If much is said on the condition of the 
peasantiy, something may be added, too, as to the pre- 
sent position of many of the proprietors. Their estates, 
or large portions of them, are frequently in the hands of 
a numerous, moneyless, spiritless tenantry, who care not, 
if they can only eke out a bare existence from year to 
year. They agree to rents which they cannot pay if 
any casualty occurs; and if the landlord enforces his 
claim, they either shoot him or his agent, or, selling 
their produce, pocket the rent and take their dishonest 
gains to America. But in an unfavourable year, not 
only does the proprietor get no rent, but he has half the 
population of his estate to maintain ; so that cases have 
occurred where it would be an act of prudence to give 
up the estate altogether, if such a state of things could 
not be altered. It is in the endeavour to effect a change, 
and save themselves from utter ruin, that many of the 
Irish proprietors are endeavouring to remove their 
squatter tenantry, and introduce capital upon their 
estates, by laying them out in larger farms. If Ireland 
is ever to rank among the civilised countries of the 
world, it must be through the operation of mighty 
changes in the present system. Now that internal com- 



Chap. IX. LORD LUCAN's ESTATES. 115 

munications are daily opening out, and the proximity to 
England is so marvellously increased by railways in every 
direction, it becomes a self-evident fact that Ireland 
cannot remain as it is ; propinquity to better things will 
induce imitation ; and that spirit of enterprise which has 
already converted so many far distant deserts of the 
earth into smiling and prosperous colonies, cannot and 
will not suffer one of the loveliest and most fertile 
islands of the world, only a few hours' distance from our 
own shores, to remain a mere waste, inhabited, as it is, 
by a hardy, intelligent, but degraded population. And 
yet, to see that population quitting their native land by 
thousands, while all their energies might have ample 
scope at home, is a lamentable fact, and one that calls 
loudly for the attention of the legislature. The Earl of 
Lucan seems to have entered upon the re-adjustment of 
his property in a very decided way. He is clearing his 
lands of small holdings, marking out new and large 
farms, and, at a great cost, bringing them into such a 
condition as may tempt men of property and science to 
settle upon them. In this scheme the great expense 
will of course be, the erection of such farm-houses and 
buildings as will keep pace with the improved modes of 
culture and treatment of stock. Lord Lucan has many 
large tracts of country in hand ; for instance, 2500 
acres in Kilmain, near Ballinrobe, now subdivided into 
three farms, with good buildings and offices, — the soil a 
good loam, with abundance of limestone and marl. 
These lands, at present, employ seventy working bul- 
locks, and half as many horses. To the left of the 
Newport road, also, in the parish of Kilmacrassa, are 
other lands similarly situated. In the barony of Burris- 
hoole upwards of 1500 acres are in hand, employing 



116 THE SAXON IN IKELAND. Chap. IX. 

twenty-five working bullocks and three horses. I was 
informed that, altogether, Lord Lucan had little less 
than 10,000 acres in hand; and as leases fall in, the 
vacant farms undergo the same process, in order to 
secure for the future a different description of tenant. 
The mode of treatment seems to be generally as follows: — 
The surface is pared and burned, the ashes spread, 
potatoes dibbled in rows without other manure. The 
ensuing crop of oats is dressed with stable dung, or 
guano, which can be procured from Liverpool at about 
11/. per ton. With the oats they lay down with grass 
seeds, viz. to the acre, 1J bushel of perennial ray grass, 
6 lbs. of red clover, and 9 lbs. of white clover or honey- 
suckle. Five hundred acres, I was informed, have been 
thus laid down last year ! The Holm Farm is about 
3000 acres, and employs thirty working bullocks and 
twenty-six horses. One sixth part of this is bog, but 
under gradual reclamation. About thirty acres were 
reclaimed last year. Ballymacragh is also in hand, — 
a farm of about 350 acres, situate on Lough Sannagh, 
two miles on the Westport road. This also is under- 
going the process of laying down, and this year thirty- 
six acres were completed. I merely enter into these 
imperfect details to show you what is even now being 
effected, against bad times and ruinously low prices. 
Lord Lucan has no fewer than seven stewards or over- 
lookers upon these and other farms in hand, and there 
is a regular office at his residence, near Castlebar, where 
all the accounts are weekly handed in, examined, and 
passed. His lordship does not, I believe, let his farms 
for a longer period than twenty-one years ; which, 
though at present prices probably a prudent plan, yet 
will, I fear, affect the ready disposal of them. This, 



Chap. IX. LORD LUCAN'S ESTATES. 117 

however, is really a desirable country to settle in ; 
there is much good land, a near market, and abundance 
of caustic or burnt lime, at from fivepence to sevenpence 
a barrel, or, what will be more intelligible to English 
ears, half-a-crown for as much as one horse will draw. 
Many cattle, also, are bred on Lord Lucan's estates 
here ; principally short horns, Galloways, and Ayrshires. 
They are kept till three years old, and then, for the 
most part, shipped for England. The dairy consists of 
about one hundred cows. Twelve or thirteen tons of 
cheese are annually made and sold; and the butter is 
packed in firkins, and fetches about eightpence per 
pound of sixteen ounces. Some of the cheese I tasted 
at a gentleman's house, and I found it quite equal in 
quality to the best single Gloster. 



118 



CHAP. X. 

MR. BURKE'S MARVELLOUS STORIES. — NEWPORT HOUSE. — 

THE CAAH. SIR RICHARD o'DONNELL, BART.— FLAX. — 

SPECIMEN OF THE o'DONNELL TENANTRY. A NEW 

FRIEND, MR. S. — NEWPORT UNION -HOUSE. 

It is one of the privileges of travelling, that one meets, 
occasionally, with strange or amusing characters. This 
country abounds with them, and I endeavour as much as 
possible to throw aside my natural indisposition to con- 
verse with strangers, in order to pick up all the in- 
formation that comes in my way. But here let me 
caution all future travellers : great care must be taken 
as to what degree of reliance you place on the informa- 
tion thus conveyed. It is a peculiarity here, and per- 
haps not altogether an unamiable one, to conceal what 
is con, while you reveal what is pro. In other words, 
an Irishman will look on the bright side, and he would 
willingly make you as happy as he can. This propensity 
has already caused me to examine several small pro- 
perties, altogether worthless as far as my object was 
concerned, and to refer to parties whose local knowledge 
was — nil. What is possible, is too often deemed pro- 
bable ; but, forsooth, downright falsehoods are not more 
rare than in England or any other country, of which I had 
an instance in Castlebar. Having occasion to visit the shop 
of a watchmaker, I entered into conversation with him, 



Chap. X. MR. BURKE'S MARVELLOUS STORIES. 119 

and the topic was fishing. Ere long, a kind of a " half 
sir" looking person came in and joined us. He was 
old and shaky, beauishly dressed, but in somewhat 
coarse habiliments ; his shoes clean, his once white hat 
stained and worn, but well brushed, and his gloves 
clean, though much too large, and not very new. His 
waistcoat was of a light blue, with brass bell buttons. 
He talked much of Lough Cullen and Lough Conn ; 
declared he had been fishing there the previous day, and 
that he had caught a trout of 21 lbs. weight, a pike of 
82 lbs., and half a score of other trout from 7 to 12 lbs.! 
Informing me that his name was Burke, he also laid 
claim to a near relationship with " the great Edmund ;" 
and I certainly went on my way feeling no little exulta- 
tion in having met such a man, and such an angler. In 
fact, I swallowed both fish and family as greedily as a 
gudgeon takes his worm. A few days afterwards, how- 
ever, relating this story to a gentleman in Galway, who 
knew the man, he assured me that the whole was " mere 
moonshine : " the old angler was not up to landing a 
trout of a pound weight ; and as to Edmund Burke, he 
was as nearly related to him as to the Great Mogul ! 
The laugh was against me, but I was all the wiser. From 
Castlebar I went to Newport. The country now opened 
upon the wilds of Ballycroy ; huge mountain masses 
capped with clouds were seen to the north and west, 
among which Nephin and Glandahurk stood conspicuous. 
A few miles from Newport, occurred one of those sights 
which are peculiarly distressing to an English eye. On 
the round and verdant ridge of a hill sloping on the 
western side to a small lake, was a large village, appa- 
rently in one long street. The plots of ground we 
should designate as gardens reached from the houses 



120 THE SAXON IN IRELAND. Chap. X. 

to the banks of the lake ; the party walls still remained, 
and it was evident the whole had been recently occu- 
pied. As the road brought me nearer to this seemingly 
pleasant spot, I perceived that every cabin was roofless 
and dismantled, and not an inhabitant was to be seen. 
There were in this village, I was informed, at least forty 
cottages. We soon afterwards passed Lough Beltra, far 
to the right; and skirting the river of the same name, 
which supplies an extensive flax-mill near the town, we 
reached Newport Mayo. Here a circumstance occurred, 
to be narrated hereafter, that materially altered my pre- 
vious plans. Having ordered my dinner at the inn, I 
strolled forth ; and as I had heard much of the schools, 
and the system of education pursued there, I proceeded 
to inspect them. But I found, on inquiry, that they 
were no longer in existence ; or at least, that they were 
now so impaired in funds and efficiency as to have 
dwindled almost to nothing. This, too, is a consequence 
of the great depression of the landed interest ; people 
who formerly contributed willingly, had now barely 
means for their own support. Newport, on the whole, 
is a favourable specimen of an Irish town. Through the 
centre of it flows the river Beltra, in its progress to 
Clew Bay. Newport House, the handsome seat of Sir 
Richard Annesley ODonnell, Bart., who is the great 
proprietor of the district, adorns the outskirts. It is 
well sheltered by fine trees, and possesses that rare 
accompaniment of a gentleman's mansion in this country, 
a heronry, and also a rookery. In this house, and in 
the possession of Sir Richard O'Donnell, is one of the 
most valuable pieces of antiquity that Ireland can boast. 
I had the privilege of inspecting it. It is called " The 
Caah," and is a box 9J inches long and eight broad. 



Chap. X. THE CAAH. 121 

The top consists of a plate of silver, richly gilt and 
chased, and is riveted to one of brass. It is divided 
into three compartments, or rather arches, supported and 
separated by clustered columns. In the centre is a sit- 
ting figure of St. Columba, with his hair flowing over 
his shoulders : he holds up his right hand, and in his 
left is a book. In the right compartment is a figure of 
a bishop, in his full pontificals and mitre, grasping 
a crosier in his left hand. In the third compartment is 
a representation of the Passion, with a glory round the 
head, and the two Marys, one on each side of the cross. 
Round the whole box is a chased border, on the top and 
bottom of which are grotesque figures of wyverns and 
lions, and on the sides, oak-leaves and acorns. In each 
of the corners is a setting of rock-crystal ; in the centre 
at the top, a crystal setting surrounded by ten gems — 
a pearl, three small shells, a sapphire, and amethysts, all 
in the rough. Affixed to the right side of the box, at 
the top, is a silver censer suspended to a curious flexible 
chain, and probably intended to represent a shrine. The 
centre is richly inlaid with pure gold, and chased. 
Colonel O'Donel, in 1723, to preserve the box, had a 
silver case made for it. On this case is a curious in- 
scription, commencing thus : — 

" Jacobo 3° M. B. Rege exulante, Daniel O'Donel in Xtianiss 
imp prasfectus rei bellicee," &c. 

The O'Donnell family, of which Columbkill was a mem- 
ber, are descended from Conal Golban, son of Neil of 
the Nine Hostages, monarch of Ireland. The Caahwas 
always handed down in the O'Donnell family as con- 
taining the reliques of the saint. The opening of this 
box was said to be the certain prelude to the downfal of 

G 



122 THE SAXON IN IEELAND. Chap. X. 

the O'Donnell family. After being closed for centuries, 
it was opened by Sir William Betham, and was found to 
contain a manuscript on vellum, very much decayed, 
being a copy of the ancient Vulgate translation of the 
Psalms, in Latin, of fifty- eight membranes. It is sup- 
posed to have been written by St. Columbkill himself, 
and handed down as an heir-loom in the O'Donnell 
family. The membranes up to the thirty-first psalm are 
gone, and those that remain are damaged. A fuller 
account of this very valuable relic of antiquity is to be 
found in a work entitled " Irish Antiquarian Researches," 
published in Dublin, 1826, from which the above de- 
tails were principally obtained. On the other bank of the 
river, and about a quarter of a mile east of Newport 
House, is the rectory, also embosomed in trees ; and 
the church, standing on a bold eminence above the town, 
has a pleasing effect. The country around Newport 
has been brought into a comparatively creditable state, 
and I inspected several farms presenting a much im- 
proved state of agriculture. Much has been done by 
Sir Richard O'Donnell in a right direction : many of 
the low lands have been laid dry by deep drains and 
ditches, and every encouragement has been, and will be, 
afforded to farmers of capital who choose to settle on 
this estate. This enlightened proprietor has especially 
directed the attention of his tenantry to the growth of 
flax, procuring them the best seed, and becoming a ready- 
money purchaser for their produce at a fair and remu- 
nerating price, in order to afford them the utmost pos- 
sible encouragement. He has also introduced into his 
neighbourhood the patent machinery invented by Mr. 
Schenck for steeping and preparing flax, and these 
highly successful operations are now carried on at the 



Chap. X. SIR RICHARD o'DONNELL. 123 

flax-works of Messrs. Bernard and Co., who are the 
lessees of certain lands possessing a never-failing and 
powerful fall of water. The mill affords constant 
employment to several hundreds of the population. 
" To the landed proprietors of Ireland," says Mr. Hagan, 
" this system holds out great advantages. Upwards of 
half the entire rental of Ireland is annually paid to 
foreigners for flax, flax-seed, and oil-cake. Now, if 
Ireland, by the general use of Mr. Schenck's process, 
be capable of producing more than the quantity of these 
several products of the flax crop annually required in 
the United Kingdom, the great benefit of retaining 
such an immense sum in this impoverished country is 
plain." 

The same advantages to a settler occur at Newport, 
as before described as belonging to its neighbour and 
rival Westport. Both possess much highly improvable 
land, a generally fertile country, good harbours com- 
municating with Clew Bay, abundance of lime and sea 
manure, and a quiet and industrious population. On 
all sides around Newport are most beautiful and eligible 
sites for settlers, and I had means for ascertaining, from 
an undoubted source, that a better and a more liberal 
landlord than Sir Richard O'Donnell is not to be found 
in Ireland. His rents are based on calculations suited 
to the alteration of the times ; and on conversing with 
several of the tenants, I found them perfectly satisfied 
with their condition, so far as depended on their land- 
lord. The mountain farms are admirably adapted for 
rearing young stock, and are let at low agistment rents, 
generally in conjunction with some portion of arable 
near the homestead. I heard a young man give an 
account of the wealth possessed by his father, who lived 

6 2 



124 THE SAXON IN IRELAND. Chap. X. 

lap among the hills. He possessed sixty head of cattle, 
thirty sheep, fourteen lambs, two or three acres of potatoes, 
as many of oats, and a range of feeding ground equal to 
carry double the quantity of stock. I got the tenant's 
name, curious to know the rent, and was informed by 
the steward that he paid 121. annually ! If there were 
many such landlords, poverty and disaffection would 
soon be as rare in Ireland as toads and serpents. I was 
so attracted by what I heard of this property, and other 
portions of Mayo, that I felt the strongest inclination to 
delay my journey into the county of Sligo, and to pene- 
trate into the fastnesses of this interesting and wild dis- 
trict. The opportunity of doing so pleasantly soon 
occurred. I had taken a long stroll on every side of 
Newport, and was so much pleased with my walk, that 
it was long after my dinner hour that I reached the inn ; 
in fact, the evening had already closed in when I arrived. 
As it is not my custom, when alone, to ask for a private 
sitting-room, I found, on entering the general apartment 
destined for all comers, that I was to have a companion 
for the evening. A tall, stout, hale-looking gentleman 
had drawn his seat and table towards a bright turf fire, 
the cloth was spread, and there was every appearance of 
his making himself comfortable. He took little notice 
of my entrance, and continued devouring the contents of 
an old newspaper without making any way for me at the 
fire. " Scotch or English," thought I to myself, "for a 
certainty." It is my habit, in these cases, to make my- 
self comfortable also ; and I accordingly rang the bell, 
and ordered the waiter to bring me another table, to 
place it also near the fire, for the evening was chill ; and 
1 paced the room while these preparations were going 
on. I set down my companion as a disagreeable churl, 






Chap. X. A NEW FRIEND. 125 

and resolved to treat him with the same indifference that 
he exhibited towards me. First impressions are often 
erroneous, and so it proved in this case. An English 
coffee-room, and, above all, an English travellers' room, 
are generally beyond measure dull and formal ; selfish- 
ness seems to pervade the whole place, while each man 
eyes his neighbour as if he came in questionable shape. 
At the same time it must be allowed, we occasionally 
meet with exceptions to this rule. I have frequently 
experienced much civility, and gained much information, 
from strangers in these places. In the present instance 
I was destined to be undeceived : the disagreeable churl, 
having finished some interesting article he was perusing, 
addressed me courteously, turned out a most delightful 
companion, and the dull evening I anticipated did not 
close till the hour of midnight. " Sir," said the hale 
gentleman to me, taking off his spectacles and smoothing 
down the locks of mingled grey that hung in massive 
curls almost upon his shoulders, " as I perceive you are 
about to dine, and I am about to sup, would you object 
to our occupying the same table, and sharing the same 
fare ? I have brought with me a fine brace of white 
trout from Ballycroy, and the landlady has promised to 
furnish something or other equally agreeable in addi- 
tion." I gladly accepted the invitation, and nothing 
would suit my new acquaintance, but that I must take 
the chimney corner, while he undertook to do the 
honours of the table. " And so, sir," said I, after the 
remnants of an excellent feast had been cleared away, 
and we were left in the quiet enjoyment of our whisky 
punch, " you know that wild region called Ballycroy ? 
It is not mentioned by that name in my map, but still, 
from its being so often in the mouths of the natives 

G 3 



126 THE SAXON IN IRELAND. Chap. X. 

here, I suppose it is a considerable tract of country." 
" It is, certainly, a large tract," replied my companion ; 
" but as the barony is called Erris, you will only trace 
the district under that denomination in the map. That 
vast mountainous country, which you have perceived 
stretches from hence to the north-west, consists of the 
baronies of Burrishoole, Erris, and Tyrawley. Consult 
your map, and you will find that this wild and seldom- 
travelled district is bounded north and west by the 
Atlantic Ocean ; on the south by Clew Bay and that 
chain of primary mountains which extends from New- 
port, where we now are, to Lough Cullen ; on the 
east it is bounded by the river Moy, one of the finest in 
Ireland, and the large and beautiful lakes of Conn and 
Cullen." " You seem to be well acquainted," said I, 
" with the district ; for my part, I never saw it mentioned 
in any of the descriptive works that came in my way. 
In casting my eye over it in the maps, I have always 
conceived it was the ultima Thule of Ireland ; a place 
where the stag, the wolf, and the wild boar, were likely 
to be the sole occupants." My companion laughed 
heartily. "No bad description, certainly," said he; 
" most of the wild animals do abound there ■ — the stag, 
the otter, the fox, and the badger ; but wolves and wild 
boars I have certainly not met with, during a residence 
of fifteen years. As far as the stag is concerned, I must 
not apply the word abound. I do see them, occasionally ; 
but a set of ruffians are always on the look-out for them, 
and if some stringent measures are not adopted, they 
will be exterminated. It is a pity, for they are the last 
living monuments of Ireland in its best days." " I can- 
not imagine anything so unpatriotic," said I, " as the 



Chap. X. EERIS AND TYEAWLEY. 127 

destroying these fine animals. I have seen them, my- 
self, in Somersetshire, where they still exist in the forest 
vales of Exmoor ; but, even there, the rapid breaking up 
of the heathy hills, for the sake of a profitless attempt 
at reclamation, will ere long drive them, too, from 
their ancient haunts. The late highminded and truly 
noble Earl of Carnarvon would not allow them to be de- 
stroyed, on his lovely and wild domain near Dulverton ; 
but preferred making large allowances to his tenantry 
for their occasional outbreaks, rather than suffer them 
to be driven away or molested. To see all the ferce 
naturce annihilated, one after another, by the progress 
of population, is to me melancholy ; nor have I such a 
love for my own species as to wish every other banished, 
to make way for busy, restless man. Every trace of 
the manners and customs of our ancestors will ere long 
be lost, and Nature must take wing before the attacks 
of an utilitarian generation." " It will be long," said 
Mr. S., smiling, " ere the utilitarianism you mention 
seriously invades the recesses of Erris or Tyrawley. 
These districts at the present moment, a few favoured 
spots excepted, are more desolate and neglected than 
they were probably centuries ago. But now that good 
roads have been opened through them, their capabilities 
will at least become more known ; and if they are de- 
serving of the attention of capitalists, they will doubt- 
less at some period or other receive it. For my part, I 
think those hitherto almost inaccessible regions have 
many valuable points about them. I ought to know, 
for I have resided in one of the most remote parts of 
that district from the period of my leaving England." 
A shade passed over my companion's face, but it was 

G 4 



128 THE SAXON IN IRELAND. Chap. X. 

but for a moment. f ' I have never, however," continued 
he, " repented my choice of a home, and never intend 
to leave it. But new settlers will not have the up-hill 
game to play that I had. At the time that I retired 
amid the recesses of Erris there were no safe roads for 
carriages, and even such as were dignified with that 
name, were mere horse-paths leading up the sides of 
mountains, and passing through quaking bogs and dan- 
gerous morasses. Now, the communication is every- 
where opened, markets are attainable, and the way is 
cleared for any further improvements that enterprise 
and capital may choose to effect. And yet, at this 
present moment, I could purchase the same tract of 
land which I now hold, were it in its primitive condition, 
for at least fifty per cent, less money." " That is all in 
my favour," said I. i( Like yourself, I am an English 
refugee, and am now actually engaged in looking out 
for a new settlement, preferring Ireland to the colonies." 
" And you are right," replied Mr. S.,-" there is not, in 
my opinion, a comparison to be drawn. Setting all 
mere feelings aside, I believe, in the present position of 
this country, that a man can settle himself here on a 
more certain and favourable basis than anywhere else 
that I have heard or read of. The English, generally, 
from a most ridiculous and vulgar prejudice, never once 
turn their attention this way ; their sole idea of Ireland 
is associated with murder, faction fights, and agrarian 
outrages of all sorts. The extreme fertility of the soil, 
the mildness of the climate, the present cheapness of the 
land to a purchaser, the real good qualities of the popu- 
lation, particularly in these parts, the vast maritime 
advantages within reach, the now rapid communication 



Chap. X. COMPAKATIVE VALUE OF ESTATES. 129 

with England, and the consequent ulterior prospects of 
the country — all these are lost sight of by the present 
generation, to be improved and valued, probably, by the 
next." " And yet," said I, " you find exceptions ; and 
I believe that many far-sighted men are quietly investing 
their money here, with the absolute certainty, where 
purchases are made with judgment, of securing a most 
ample return." — " Yes, more than a mere ample return. 
I have, myself, known estates disposed of in some of the 
remoter districts, the annual rental of which, should 
times improve, as they must and will do, ought to equal 
the sum total of the purchase money. But care should 
be taken in seeking out a purchase, and more in making 
one : many considerations are involved, and a person 
may fancy that he has made a great bargain by giving 
fifteen years' purchase, for what probably is not worth 
five. It is most difficult at present, in Ireland, to judge 
of real value by assumed rentals : a prudent investor 
will put aside rental altogether, and have the land 
valued irrespectively of its alleged returns. As you are 
now engaged in the search for a settlement, I think my 
experience might be useful to you. I leave this place 
in a few days for my farm in Erris, and if you will 
share my conveyance, and give me the pleasure of your 
company for a few days, I dare venture to say you will 
not repent it. You may then see what can be done, 
and one day with me will probably enlighten you more 
than all the tours and agricultural works on your shelves. 
I am, certainly, somewhat of a stranger to you," con- 
tinued he, smiling, " but my worthy friend the landlady 
here, or the clergyman of this place, and he is a truly 
excellent man, will relieve you of all fear of being either 

& 5 



130 THE SAXON IN IRELAND. Chap. X. 

murdered or robbed in my company." We continued 
our conversation to a late hour ; and to my great plea- 
sure and surprise I found in my new friend a near con- 
nection of my mother's family; a bond of union as 
acceptable under present circumstances as it was unex- 
pected. It was mutually agreed that as soon as Mr. S. 
had completed his business, we should set out together 
on our expedition into Erris. I felt as if there was 
something providential in this meeting ; and I had now 
the opportunity I had so much desired, of leisurely 
viewing things with my own eyes, and forming my judg- 
ment on a near and calm inspection. 

I must not forget to mention my visit to the Newport 
union-house, before I bid adieu to the environs of 
this well situated little town. Crossing the bridge, 
in company with one of the guardians, we proceeded 
to an ancient mansion-house, called, I think, " Sea 
Mount/' which, with its extensive outbuildings, the 
property of Sir Richard O'Donnell, have been fitted 
up for the temporary accommodation of the paupers. 
The situation is romantic and secluded, and the pre- 
mises are sheltered by trees of considerable growth. 
I minutely examined and inquired into all the 
arrangements, and was much pleased to observe the 
general air of neatness and cleanliness which pervaded 
every department. The inmates of full age were in 
number 368, of whom 217 were women. Besides 
these, was the full average of boys and girls. I could 
not find that any of these had settled employment, 
though I was informed by the matron that the young 
women were most ready to do any work assigned to 
them, and never so contented as when thus engaged* 
The men were expected to keep the premises in neat 



Chap. X. NEWPORT UNION-HOUSE. 131 

order ; but I found they had no wheelbarrows, and* onlj 
a few shovels among them. Every fine day the paupers, 
male and female, were taken down to the sea-shore to 
bathe. They were allowed a change of linen once a 
week, and of sheets once a fortnight. The dormitories 
were clean and well ventilated : each bed had two occu- 
pants. The dietary was as follows : for breakfast, each 
adult had eight ounces of Indian meal made into stir- 
about, with one pint of buttermilk ; for dinner, one 
pound of brown bread, and one pint of buttermilk. I 
tasted the bread : it was coarse and heavy, being com- 
posed of equal proportions of rye-meal, Indian corn, and 
old flour. For supper, the children are allowed a quarter 
of a pound of white bread, and, added my conductor, 
" a rasonable quantity of new milk." The beds in the 
dormitories were not too crowded, and were all neatly 
rolled up during the day, and the floors swept and well 
scoured. The mattresses are stuffed with oat straw. 
Each bed had one sheet, one double blanket, and a rug. 
The children are taught to read and write, but no in- 
struction of any kind is, I believe, offered to adults. I 
requested that a few of the boys who had just entered 
the house, and a few of those who had been inmates 
more than six months, might be placed in juxta- 
position, so that I might judge of their relative appear- 
ance. The distinction was remarkably in favour of the 
latter. This may, however, be accounted for by the 
fact, that nothing but the [extremity of destitution and 
want will induce these poor creatures to enter the union- 
house. Though there was nothing peculiarly to com- 
plain of in the arrangements, except indeed that one 
could have wishedfor a more varied and generous diet, 

o 6 



132 THE SAXON IN IKELAND. Chap. X. 

yet it was, on the whole, a painful visit to me. Symp- 
toms of dissatisfaction at their position were but too 
visible among some, and there was a desponding tone 
in several that I addressed, which went to my heart. 
With the world before them, with one half of their own 
country a mere uncultivated waste, it struck me as a 
strange anomaly to see so many fine specimens of the 
human stock living in unwilling idleness, and at the 
expence, too, of a suffering and impoverished com- 
munity. 



133 



CHAR XL 

CAKIG-A-HOWLA. BURRISHOOLE ABBEY. — LOTJGH FEOGH. 

Having made this arrangement with my new friend, I 
determined to spend the intervening time in further in- 
specting the beautiful environs of Newport, and then 
making, as he had also suggested, a short tour of Achill. 
There are many fine farms around Newport which would 
well repay the skill of the agriculturist. I again visited 
several, and noticed much judicious draining and re- 
claiming in progress by the worthy proprietor of this 
highly fertile district. One evening I strolled along the 
romantic shores of Clew Bay till I reached the old tower 
of Carig-a-howla. It is a square fortalice, very strong, 
with a gabled gateway, and a low round tower or bar- 
bican adjoining. Like most of these ancient strongholds, 
it is close to the water's edge, in early times a position 
both of security and convenience. Proceeding onwards, 
I ascended an eminence that commanded a great extent 
of the surrounding country, and was crowned by a Da- 
nish fort. The prospect was exceedingly beautiful, 
comprehending in one panoramic view, Clew Bay, with 
its islands, Cruagh Patrick, and the mountains of Mo- 
risk, Clare Island, and the distant hills of Currawn, 
together with Newport, Westport, and the range of 
hills far to the east. One of the Queen's armed schooners 
was in full sail up the bay, probably to inspect the 



134 THE SAXON IN IKELAND. Chap. XI. 

lighthouse, &c. If so, her duties were soon performed. 
After ascertaining that the lighthouse was there, if, 
indeed, that was her business, she tacked out of the bay- 
again, and was soon out of sight. Returning, I passed 
by a gentleman's house in a most lovely situation, which, 
however, was sadly deteriorated by the utter absence of 
neatness and order. Potatoes were cultivated up to the 
very walls of the house, and where a lawn should have 
been, were ugly heaps of gravelly soil thrown up without 
any apparent use or motive. A few tall, drooping pop- 
lars and sickly firs were stuck here and there, just where 
they ought not to have been. I have certainly seen the 
same bad taste occasionally in England, but it is the 
exception there, not, as here, the rule. The Irish, as a 
people, have but little notion of landscape-gardening, or 
of bringing out the beauties of nature. They do not, 
in general, select the best situations for their houses, 
and there is too often an air of discomfort and want of 
arrangement around their dwellings, which at first is 
repulsive to the fastidiousness of one who has been ac- 
customed to English scenery. But to this remark, 
however, there are some praiseworthy exceptions. The 
day following I devoted in the inspection of Burrishoole 
Abbey and its magnificent Lakes. These loughs are 
formed in the hollows of the mountains by the many 
streams issuing from the deep glens of the hills of Erris 
to the northward. The scenery is in the highest degree 
picturesque. After visiting the extensive ruins of the 
Abbey, which are situated on the left bank of the broad 
river which connects the loughs with Clew Bay, I again 
crossed the road ; and, passing the now deserted school- 
house of Dderadda, I took the old Roman road through 



Chap. XI. LOUGH FEOGH. 135 

the wild and romantic townland of Doontrusk, and em- 
barking in a four-oared boat, near a little stream which 
forms the northern boundary, I landed at the junction 
of the two lakes, after rowing to Nixon's Island, and to 
portions of the surrounding shore. Here the waters of 
Lough Feogh throw themselves over a mass of im- 
mense rocks forming a magnificent cascade, but not so 
precipitous as to impede the progress of the salmon 
upwards when they seek the fresh water. The high 
tides flow into the lower lake, called the Furnace Lough 
from an old Roman blomary on its shores, and at the 
outlet of this are the salmon weirs. Mr. Nixon, the 
lessee of the fishery, and a shrewd active fellow with a 
crippled hand, here joined us, and, proceeding along the 
rugged shores of this upper lough, which showed mani- 
fest signs of having been at one period thickly wooded, 
we entered a second boat, and rowed gently to the very 
head of the lake. The scene that now presented itself 
was singularly beautiful, and rendered more so by the 
changes that were every minute passing over it from the 
rapid alternations of cloud and sunshine. At one mo- 
ment it lay before us in sombre magnificence, or partially 
veiled by the driving mists, through which every object 
loomed out large and indistinct ; at the next, the sun 
bursting out would light up and bring into bold relief 
some protruding mass of grey and barren rock which 
seemed suspended over us, peering for a moment from 
its thick mantle of closing vapour. Far away in the dim 
distance, darkling mountains occasionally disclosed their 
various and fantastic forms, only to be obscured again by 
heavy fogs or the scudding rack. Here to the north- 
east of the head of the lake was to be seen the towering 



136 THE SAXON IN IRELAND. Chap. XI. 

cliffs of Mount Eagle*; on the right, the cone-formed 
hill of Buckhaugh ; while Turc Slieve, far to the north, 
overlooked the fertile vale of Shrahmore. In this valley, 
a great portion of which is the property of Sir It. 
O'Donnell, good wheat is grown, and nothing hut a few 
safe roads are wanting to convert this district into a 
land of plenty and cultivation. To the angler, also, these 
lakes often afford fair sport, but owing to the heaviness 
of the atmosphere, and the want of a fresh in the waters, 
I had myself no success. Leaving Lough Feogh, we 
clambered for nearly a mile over a craggy *shore, to visit 
the other outlet of the lake. This is artificial, and was 
probably in some way connected with an old building, 
of which part still remains, and which tradition says 
was erected by the Romans, and formed a portion of 
their iron-works at this place. Here, too, the salmon 
find their way into the upper lake. Formerly this dis- 
trict was a thick forest, and here for the sake of the 
fuel, the Itomans probably brought their iron ore up 
the river from Clew Bay and smelted it on the spot. 
Hence the lower lake is designated the Furnace Lough. 

* The Marquis of Sligo takes one of his titles from this mountain, an 
old possession of the family. 



137 



CHAP. XII. 

EXCURSION AMONG THE BALLYCROY MOUNTAINS. IRISH 

HOSPITALITY. 

I am now resting at the inn at Newport, after one of 
the most fatiguing rambles I ever attempted. As I was 
sailing on the broad bosom of the Furnace Lough I was 
so struck with the bold heights of the Nephin or Bally- 
croy mountains, rearing their craggy fronts to the west- 
ward, that I determined to ascend them, convinced that 
the views would amply repay the exertion. A guide 
was provided for me, and we commenced our walk from 
the House of Curreen, a solitary dwelling at the foot 
of the mountains, but inhabited by persons of consi- 
deration, if I may judge by the neat equipage, &c. 
which I met as I approached the dwelling. We soon 
struck off the mountain road, and faced the preci- 
pitous ridge which divides the two wild glens of 
Thaumaus and Grlendahurk. I will not weary you 
with the details of my ascent, as these feats have 
been so often described by more practised pens than 
mine ; and were I to attempt any delineation of the 
fine views that opened upon me as I rose higher and 
higher from the level plain to the very eyrie of the eagle, 
I could convey to you no idea of the reality. My guide 
was an active long-legged mountaineer, and an inha- 
bitant of these wilds. I fancied he wished to tire out 



138 THE SAXON IN IRELAND. Chap. XII. 

the Sassenach, and accordingly with becoming spirit I 
resolved to die game. We rested twice, and only then 
for a few seconds before we attained the summit of 
Cuscombecurragh, and it was at his own suggestion that 
we stopped at all. The second time we seated ourselves 
was on a narrow ridge of rock which descends almost 
perpendicularly into Glen-Thaumaus on one side, and 
into Glendahurk on the other. A curious fact here 
occurred perhaps worth mentioning, as showing the 
superstitious feeling prevalent in these regions. I took 
out my cigar-case, and having only small wax lucifers, 
as soon as I lighted one it was extinguished by the 
driving sleet. I tried another, and a third, and was about 
to try a fourth, when my guide, one of the respectable 
sept hight Macguire, laid his hand on my arm, and said 
somewhat sternly, "No — I ask yer honour's pardon — 
but no more ; if you do, I must leave you." — It was a 
really sublime position we had attained. Thin vapours 
hurried over the summits of the mountains, sometimes 
veiling all below in obscurity ; then again they rolled 
off, and the deep glens below, with their glittering 
streams, their verdant spots and craggy sides, browsed 
by the sheep, opened upon us with all the loveliness of 
a finished picture. I thought of Beattie's beautiful 
lines : 

" All in mist the world below was lost ; 
What dreadful pleasure ! there to stand sublime, 
Like shipwrecked mariner on desert coast, 
And view the enormous waste of vapour, tost 
In billows, lengthening to the horizon round, 
Now scooped in gulfs, with mountains now embossed ! " 

As we attained the peaked summit of Corranabinna, 
nearly 2500 feet from the level of Clew Bay, we found 



Chap. XII. BALLYCROY MOUNTAINS. 139 

ourselves quite enveloped in thick clouds. A chill rush- 
ing wind met us, and we hurried on searching for the 
shelter of some overhanging rock. The vapours occa- 
sionally dissolved in rain, and my companion now dis- 
appointed all my previous expectations by assuring me 
that I had no chance, for that day at least, of enjoying 
the splendid view to the north and west of these heights. 
After we had wandered about on the top of the moun- 
tain for nearly half an hour, he at length told me it 
would be a work of no little danger to attempt a descent 
before the mist had in some measure cleared off, for the 
dangerous precipices overhanging the Corranabinna Lake 
could not be far from us. We had no alternative then 
but to shelter ourselves as best we could, under the 
angle of a rock, a very indifferent protection against the 
driving sleet ; but I had this especial comfort, it was 
yet early in the day, and I had already had enough ex- 
perience of such situations to know, that the changes 
from storm to sunshine were no less rapid and to be 
looked for, than those from fair weather to mists and 
darkness. The event fully justified my spirit of resig- 
nation : a brisk rain descends, and the clouds seem 
lighter ; now they sweep past us up the hill — they 
darken again, and are more thick than ever ; now a break 
is distinguishable for a moment — something like a ray 
of the sun seems to linger for an instant on a distant rock 
below us ; now the sun breaks through : and never can 
I forget my sensations as the scene opened upon us. 
We now found — for hitherto we could hardly see a foot 
before us — that we had been sitting all this time upon 
the very brink of that fearful precipice which overhangs 
the wild and solitary Lough of Corranabinna (or more 
properly, Carreg-a-Binniogh). Had we attempted dur- 



140 THE SAXON IN IRELAND. Chap. XII. 

ing the mist to move our position, we must have been 
dashed to atoms. " By dad, master alanna," said my 
guide, looking in my face with a half-fearful expression, 
" it was well you did not try the fourth match ! " It 
seemed here as if a gorge ran from the far-off plain into 
the interior of the mountains, dividing the heights of 
Meilroc and Corranabinna. At the extremity of this 
was a dark lake, hemmed in on three sides, partly by 
inaccessible cliffs, partly by green and heathery slopes. 
On the highest of these precipices we now stood a thou- 
sand feet above the lake ; and so suddenly was the sense 
of our position forced upon us, that it was not till we 
had thrown ourselves on the ground, and crawled along 
some distance from the fearful verge, that we dared to 
stand upright and gaze upon the glorious scene below. 
Plains, hills, lakes, rivers like threads of silver, distant 
ranges of mountains, bays, promontories, and far-off 
ocean rocks or islands, these all were beneath us, or 
stretching far away to the horizon. I could have stood 
and gazed for hours. The words of Goldsmith were at 
my heart though not upon my lips : 

" Creation's heir — the world — the world is mine." 

It was Nature's own map, and I soon, from my geogra- 
phical knowledge of the district, made my eye familiar 
with my position. " We are now," said my companion, 
" in Shrahduggane ; and that lake to the left, as well as 
the dark one below us, are the sources of the Owen duff 
river, which empties itself yonder into Turlogh Bay." 
" Yes," said I, " close by Croy Lodge, where is the 
celebrated salmon fishery. That black and gloomy 
range to the left, in the far distance is, I suppose, Cur- 
rawn Achill ; and beyond are Slievemore and Croaghan, 



Chap. XII. BALLYCROY MOUNTAINS. 141 

with Saddle Head to the north." " Right, Sir," in- 
terrupted Macguire; " and look off to sea as far as your 
eye can reach — that rock is called Deevelaun, famous 
for ' agles and say birds ;' and yonder is the country 
round Belmullet ; and there Tyrawly lies, till it reaches 
Killala Bay and Crossmolina." " And," continued I, 
" yonder far bay, on which the sun is just now shining, 
is Blacksod Harbour, and beyond is the Mullet, and 
this lovely creek, that penetrates so beautifully inland, 
is Tulloghan Bay, and that inland lough is Fahy, 
on which the Castle of Doona is situated. What a 
glorious map is this !" " You seem to know all about 
it," said Macguire, looking surprised. "I once came 
upon this mountain with a 'foreigner/ who asked me if 
we could see Snowdon in Wales. ( And is it Wales 
you're talking about ? ' says I. ' Faith, and he must have 
a keen eye that can see Snowdon, I'm thinking, even if 
he were on the top of Nephin,' says I." " Well, but 
Macguire," I resumed, " tell me the name of that round 
hill that stands, as it were, by itself on the plain below, 
like a sentinel to the receding circular range around 
it." "That is Gloreslieve, about 1000 feet high; and 
the mountain to the right is Scardaun, which forms the 
western side of Nephin Beg. And do you see a black 
speck just where the river seems to turn round a green 
knoll ? that is the shooting lodge of Mr. Vernon ; and 
beyond, not far, is the house of Mr. Lees, which he 
has built as a fishing station. The rivers of Bally croy 
are famous among anglers all over Ireland, and some of 
those loughs you see there sparkling in the waste, have 
trout in them of seven and fourteen pounds' weight!" * 

* The author never met with them. 



142 THE SAXON IN IRELAND. Chap. XII. 

" Did you ever try the Ballyeroy river, Macguire, which 
empties itself near Croy Lodge into Tulloghan Bay ?" 
" O yes, often. Last week I hooked a salmon which 
weighed twenty-two pounds, and we had a pretty severe 
? tussle ' of nearly two hours before he was landed. He 
was as fat as a pig, pretty nearly the same thickness 
from his shoulder to his tail." " What river is that 
which joins the estuary there to the left with several 
branches ramifying over the flat plain till they meet in 
one stream above yonder bridge ?" "It is the old 
bridge of Bellaveeny ; and that is the Bellaveeny river, 
or more properly the Owen-a-vrea. It rises in the lake 
on yonder mountain-side, but the country through which 
it runs is anything but flat, though it seems to us so. 
It would be a first-rate stream for fish if preserved, and 
providing there was more water. It has large trout, 
and might have a few salmon too, but for the night 
fishing. That might easily be prevented, for the poachers 
cannot conceal their light : it may be seen from a long 
distance. The way they do it is this : When the sal- 
mon come up to spawn, the poachers go by night, and, 
with a torch, perceive where the fish wallow to leave 
their spawn, and they take them out by means of a 
gaff." " It is an abominable practice," said I, " useless 
to the thief, and very injurious to the country; for fish 
so taken are not wholesome food." 

With such conversation, Macguire and I whiled away 
an hour on the mountain as we sat and overlooked the 
splendid scene below. At length it was time to com- 
mence our descent, for a cloud already rested on the 
summit of Nephin Beg, and the day still seemed un- 
certain. " Facilis descensus Averni:" not so into the 
plains of Ballyeroy. Many a fall had we — many a 



Chap. XII. BALLYCROY MOUNTAINS. 143 

time did we pause to select the safest slope, where, in- 
deed, all were precipitous ; and in several places Mac- 
guire stopped to make me listen where the underground 
torrents were rushing beneath the very earth on which 
we stood. This made careful walking necessary, for it 
would not have been very pleasant to sink below the 
surface into the depths of one of these subterranean 
pools. We at length attained the level of the two 
lakes which we had observed so far beneath us when on 
the summit of the mountain. Two such valleys as those 
in which they lie are not often seen. The first we 
traversed was covered by immense blocks of rock scat- 
tered everywhere in strange confusion, and in every 
picturesque form. In one place, one had so rolled upon 
another as to form a natural cave, affording excellent 
shelter, others were half sunk in the ground, while 
some seemed almost to tremble in the air, merely resting 
on an angular point or leaning against some other neigh- 
bouring mass. Frequently crystal springs emerged 
from beneath these giant boulders, and marked their 
sinuous course into the plain beneath by a waving line 
of the freshest verdure. As we climbed a gentle knoll 
which separates these two wild glens, I looked back 
upon the scene we were leaving with a feeling of awe. 
The clouds already obscuring the summits of the pre- 
cipice, the jutting cliffs above, the huge rocks below, 
and the calm surface of the lake, formed a whole truly 
and strikingly sublime. It was close to this spot that 
the author of " The Wild Sports of the West " met 
with the red deer, and here it was that the noble stag 
was killed. The other lake we have already described. 
Its waters were still and very dark, and the precipice 
rose around it on three sides, almost a thousand feet. 



144 THE SAXON IN IRELAND. Chap. XIL 

This portion of the mountain range of Ballycroy was 
ever the favourite haunt of the wild deer, and here, I 
was informed, they still linger, though very few in num- 
ber. To have caught sight even of one would have 
completed the interest of the scene. Leaving these 
romantic glens, we at length gained the fine slopes which 
everywhere distinguish the bases of these mountains ; 
and I often paused to observe the rare capabilities of 
improvement which on every side presented themselves. 
A few judicious catch-water drains, if opened at the 
commencement of these slopes, would at once act bene- 
ficially upon many thousand acres on the plains below. 
It is from the innumerable springs that issue from the 
heights, that the plain is so saturated with moisture — 
once cut these off, and with the assistance of a few 
mains to convey them to the beds of the rivers, the or- 
dinary quantity of surface drains, of about two feet deep 
or less, would totally alter the whole aspect of the 
country. I never saw any tract of land where exten- 
sive and highly remunerative operations could be so 
easily and economically carried out. Draining, irriga- 
tion, and subsoiling, are all easy of performance, and in 
many parts the vegetable matter does not exceed two or 
three feet in depth. The plain which appeared so flat 
as viewed from the mountain, we found, on traversing 
it, sufficiently uneven, having many eminences in the 
midst of the moor, which appeared to contain abundance 
of clay and sand. Some of the sand I tested with 
muriatic acid, and it effervesced briskly, of course ex- 
hibiting the presence of lime. Our walk to Macguire's 
cabin was nearly five Irish miles across the waste, 
though he protested it was " just a step or so, and quite 
convanient." But the genius of speculation was so 



Chap. XII. BALLYCEOT MOUNTAINS. 145 

alive within me, and I was so engaged as we strode 
along, that I did not grudge the distance. Every inch 
of land we traversed seemed reclaimable, possessing a 
fine sunny aspect, excellent slopes for draining, and 
rivers running far into the land, capable of bringing up 
lime and sea-manure from the neighbouring islands and 
deeply indented shores. " It is a shame," exclaimed I 
to my companion, as we paused for a moment on a 
round knoll in the centre of the vast plain, " it is a 
shame and a disgrace to every Celt and Milesian in the 
land, that such a fine tract as this should lie a mere 
useless waste, while in other parts every shallow de- 
posit among the rocks, and even the very sands on the 
sea shore, are eagerly sought after and dearly rented, in 
hopes of obtaining a scanty produce. I cannot under- 
stand it." " And faith I don't wonder," replied Mac- 
guire, archly: " your honour does not know, perhaps, 
that all things are done in Ould Ireland by the rule of 
contrary. There is land here that will fat out sheep 
and bullocks, and I'm the man that know it, sure, for 
I've seen it myself." I smiled at this remark, and set 
it down as one of the many instances I had met with of 
poetic exaggeration among this imaginative and lively 
people ; but I afterwards was informed by a respectable 
proprietor of the district, that my companion was correct 
in his statement. In fact, as we walked along the banks 
of the Ballyveeny river, I remarked many extensive 
patches of deep alluvial soil, which only required en^ 
closing with fences and ditches to render them, with a 
little dressing of lime, first rate meadow land. I noticed 
also, that as we approached the coast, every portion which 
had been worked by the cottar's spade exhibited crops 
of the heaviest and most promising description ; and I 

H 



146 THE SAXON IN IRELAND. Chap. XII. 

felt satisfied that, so long as such land remained in Ire- 
land neglected and almost unappropriated, it was sheer 
wickedness to ship off luckless emigrants to the barren 
plains of Australia, or the ferny wastes of New Zealand. 
After such a morning's walking, climbing, and bog- 
trotting as I had gone through, the rude, yet hearty 
hospitality of my friend Macguire's cabin was not to 
be despised. Her unvarying kindness to the stranger, 
her open-hearted profuse hospitality, her noble and 
generous contempt of " remuneration," will ever endear 
Ireland to my memory. " Sure, and it wasn't the 
money ye offered the woman 1" said my guide, vehemently, 
to me, as he entered the cabin, and caught bis wife's 
indignant look, as she flung my offering to the winds, 
" would you eat the bread and then take away the 
blessing?" I was ashamed of myself and looked with 
reverence upon these poor people, and could only mut- 
ter my apology that I was an Englishman, and that in 
England no man ever refused what was offered him, 
&c. &c. The Irish have many faults, I grant you ; but 
for courtesy, good humour, willingness to oblige, and 
kindness of heart to a suffering fellow-creature, they 
have no equals. I have seen it, and experienced it too, 
in a hundred instances. After a pleasant walk with 
Macguire along the banks of the Owen-a-vrea, I found 
a car waiting for me at the bridge of Ballyveeny, and 
was soon comfortably seated in mine own inn in the 
pleasant town of Newport, Mayo. 



147 



CHAP. XIII. 

FLAX MILLS CURRAWN. — FEVER HUT. — PWLLRANHT. — 

INN AT THE SOUND. KILKURNET CASTLE. SLIEVEMORE. 

COLONY. 

The next morning not "being very favourable for a long 
excursion, I visited the flax mills, which are situated 
about half a mile out of Newport, on the Castlebar road. 
The beautiful Beltra river, flowing from the lake of that 
name, gives a constant water power ; though, to the eye of 
the angler, and the lover of the picturesque, it would ap- 
pear treason against nature to have it so employed. The 
modern utilitarian, however, would think very differently ; 
and, in his view, the money thus distributed among the 
population of the town is an ample set-off against the 
total subjugation of the sublime and beautiful. A rela- 
tive of Mr. Cobden, to whom I had the pleasure of 
being introduced, is a partner in this thriving establish- 
ment. I inspected the works thoroughly, and with great 
interest. I have alluded to the process before, which 
is, besides, too well understood for me to enlarge upon. 
Here I saw about three hundred persons employed ; 
but I could not help fancying that the gathering toge- 
ther of such large masses, unless under the strictest sur- 
veillance, must be subversive of moral habits. The 
cultivation of flax, for which the soil and climate of 
Ireland are so well adapted, is, I believe, rapidly extend- 

H 2 



148 THE SAXON IN IRELAND. Chap. XIII. 

ing. Till, however, some fixed and steady price is 
agreed upon by the consumers and producers, the home 
growth will not be large ; for there is so much uncer. 
tainty as to prices, that it gives the cultivation the air 
of a mere speculation. A little below the flax mills, and 
on the opposite side of the river, is Newport Rectory, 
the beautiful residence of the very worthy clergyman, 
the Rev. Mr. Gildea. The church is on the opposite 
hill, in a commanding situation, close to the grounds of 
Newport House. The Roman Catholic chapel occupies 
the brow of another eminence, apparently further re- 
moved from the town. 



I write this from the little incommodious inn at the 
settlement or colony in Achill. Leaving Newport 
early, I traversed the shores of Clew Bay, and took the 
Achill road, just as we turned the shoulder of the Glen 
Taumaus mountains, leaving the romantic pass of Dukell 
to the right. We here enter upon the wild district of 
Currawn Achill. Lofty heath- clad mountains attend us 
on the left, exhibiting many a hollow gorge, and many 
a lonely streamlet issuing from the far off lakes above. 
On the right, a beautiful inlet from Blacksod Bay 
stretched its arms through a low but undulating tract of 
waste or bog land, easily reclaimable, and known as the 
Pwllranhies. Numberless roofless huts, with their ga- 
bles standing up, told the usual tale of emigration, 
famine, and disease ; and I could not but wish that some 
I saw still tenanted were also levelled with the ground. 
In one spot, low in a bog hole, I observed a wretched 
pile of turf built up in the form of a cone, with an en- 



Chap. XIII. FEVER HUT. 149 

trance scarcely large enough for a dog to creep through. 
Every blast of heaven, every shower of hail or rain, 
must have penetrated this den of dirt and smoke. I 
inquired of the car driver what was the meaning of this 
strange piece of architecture. " Sure, and is it the 
little cabin there you are meaning ? " replied he, with a 
lash at his horse. ie Well then, it's the poor man, sure, 
that's got the faver, that lives there, if he isn't dead, for 
the family were afraid of the infection." For a human 
creature to inhabit such a den was shocking indeed, but 
that it should be the refuge of a poor wretch in a fever, 
was something worse. I have no language to express 
my feelings : is it possible to conceive a lower step in 
the scale of being ? The badger and the fox fare better 
than this member of the human family, one of the 
boasted lords of the creation. 

As we drove along, my eye continually rested on 
large improvable tracts ; and I could not help endeavour- 
ing to realise to myself the vision of flourishing farms, 
and well stocked mountain pastures. This district pre- 
sents many of the capabilities I have already described 
in Ballycroy — fine slopes for draining, access to markets 
by sea, abundance of sea-manure, and excellent roads. 
The industry of man, and the application of capital, are 
alone wanting, to convert Ballycroy and the low lands of 
Currawn into one of the finest arable and pasture dis- 
tricts in the British dominions. Arrived at the little 
inn at the sound of Achill, I waited an hour till the tide 
flowed sufficiently to allow the passage of a boat to 
Cloughmore, which is at the south-eastern extremity of 
the island, and where 1 had been informed was much 
good land, and a commodious pier erected. In the 
interval I walked up to the new church, now building 

H 3 



150 THE SAXON IN IRELAND. Chap. XIII. 

on the waste, and could not but give due credit to the 
zeal which had conceived and actually brought the plan 
into execution. The congregation to be benefited is at 
present in vision, not in reality ; for scarcely a dozen 
dwellings are to be found, and probably most of those 
inhabited by Roman Catholics. Great exertions, how- 
ever, are making in these parts to withdraw the people 
from the ancient faith ; and the melancholy state of des- 
titution into which almost the entire population of this 
island has been plunged, since the potato failure, has 
much aided the design. Schools have been established 
in various parts, and to those who regularly attend, and 
thus consent to receive a Protestant education, from 
three and a half to seven pounds of meal, or thereabouts, 
are weekly distributed as an inducement and reward. 
I was informed by the rector of the parish of Achill, that 
not less than 1800 are thus relieved and educated. He 
also stated that he expected a congregation of 250 per- 
sons at his new church at the Sound. That a consider- 
able town will ere long rise on this spot I have little 
doubt ; and it would be a great benefit to all the sur- 
rounding country could sufficient advantages be offered, 
so as to induce a number of Englishmen to settle them- 
selves in this eligible locality. I had a pleasant ramble 
over the finely undulating ground to the south of the 
inn. For subdivision into small farms, I have seldom 
visited a more eligible spot ; and should a spirited pro- 
prietor of sufficient capital ever possess this fine tract, 
he may either cultivate or subdivide it to great advantage, 
rom whatever part of the country you catch a glimpse 
of the heights of Currawn, which tower over this plea- 
sant lowland district, they appear dark, wild, and gloomy 
beyond any other of the neighbouring ranges. I clam- 



Chap. XIII. KILKURNET CASTLE. 151 

bered up the mountain as far as a solitary lake called 
Loughaun, and above this to a romantic dip, containing 
in its bosom the waters of no less than five other lakes. 
Over these the cliffs rise till they attain the height of 
nearly 2000 feet above the level of the sea. In these 
deep ravines and corries was the favourite haunt of the 
wild deer, and I know no better spot for the formation 
of a deer forest. 

The excursion through the sound to Cloughmore 
was interesting. On the right were the dreary hills of 
Lower Achill, and as we approached the old tower of 
Kilkurnet there were many rich slopes on the shore, 
apparently thickly inhabited, and partially cultivated in 
hundreds of small wretched patches, more Hibernico. 
On the left were the cheerless steeps of the Currawn 
mountains, just described. At the southern extremity 
of the Sound rose the round hills of Achilbeg, an island 
containing several hundred acres, having the advantage 
of a small harbour, and a fishery which might be made 
most productive. We landed close to the foot of the old 
square tower of Kilkurnet, one of Grrania Waile's castles. 
Doona Castle, to the north of the sound (on Tullaghan 
Bay), and Kilkurnet Tower to the south, were doubtless 
important posts for the occupation and defence of these 
wild and once lawless districts. Here, as in Clare 
Island, Grace O'Malley, Queen of the Isles of the West, 
held despotic sway ; and it is curious to observe how 
completely to the present day the strongholds of her 
power are to be traced. The old tower of Kilkurnet is 
interesting, from its comparative completeness, and the 
expense of repairing it would be trifling. It is firmly 
founded on the solid rock, against which the sea-wave 
ever beats; while the thickness of its walls, and the 

H 4 



152 THE SAXON IN IRELAND. Chap. XIII. 

height of its battlements, give the idea of great strength 
and capability of defence. It is constructed on the plan 
of many of the border strongholds in England and Scot- 
land, consisting of one huge square tower, with a low 
entrance towards the north. The windows, if such they 
may be called, and loop holes, are irregularly distributed 
at a considerable elevation on all sides of the building ; 
and it must, in the day of its power, have afforded a 
secure retreat. As we again embarked, after I had in- 
spected the country around, the extreme clearness of the 
water struck me : so clear, indeed, was it, that I could 
see down to the yellow sand, where the seaweed might 
be distinguished, fathoms below, waving upon the scat- 
tered rocks. The scene, as we returned to the ferry, 
was one of extreme desolation ; the old deserted tower 
of Kilkurnet, the ruined church and thickly crowded 
cemetery close by, the blackened gables of deserted 
dwellings, the numberless garden patches now producing 
nothing but masses of rank weeks, all looked as if a 
hostile army had passed along, and left the traces of its 
progress in every nook and corner of this fine, but dreary 
district. To add to the wildness of the scene, a hollow 
moaning wind sprang up ; the mists descended thick 
from the mountains of Currawn ; the curlew flew wildly 
about, piping its shrill whistle, and the ill-omened cor- 
morant scudded so close upon the rising waves, that he 
seemed to be almost sailing upon them. The further I 
travel westward, the more visible are the ravages of 
neglect, and of improvident legislation. The race of 
men certainly improves, but their condition, if possible, 
deteriorates. These are, however, the regions for 
English enterprize ; and I more and more acknowledge 
the wise policy of the Government, in facilitating the 



Chap. XIII. SLIEVEMORE COLONY. 153 

transfer of these fine and most improvable properties 
into hands capable of developing their resources. From 
the Ferry to the Colony is a long, dreary, but withal not 
uninteresting drive. This establishment is peculiar, and 
in every point full of interest to either party, whether 
favourable or adverse to the scheme. My time did not 
allow me to inquire so minutely into its progress and 
objects as to enable me to state any opinions of my own 
upon the subject, and I shall therefore confine myself 
to a few facts. Achill contains an area of nearly 50,000 
acres, and the population numbers about 6000 souls. 
At the time of the establishment of the " Mission," in 
1833, the natives were almost wholly Roman Catholics, 
and there does not appear to have been either any resi- 
dent Protestant minister, or any stated public worship. 
The " Mission," in furtherance of their purpose, pro- 
cured a tract of land, including the valley of Doogurt, 
on the western side of which they have built the settle- 
ment, or Colony, as it is usually called. Above this 
place rises the high and peaked mountain of Slieve- 
more, and below, in the valley, are gardens and fertile 
fields reclaimed from the waste. It is highly credit- 
able to the managing residents here, to see how rapidly 
and effectually they are converting a mere morass into 
smiling gardens and fertile lands ; and it were worse 
than unjust not only to notice but to record the fact, 
that previous to their introduction to the island, there 
seems to have been no one to care for the poor, to 
supply their wants, or to instruct their ignorance. I 
have been informed by a gentleman intimately con- 
nected with the island, that the population, previous 
to the " Protestant wedge" being inserted there, was in 
a positive state of the grossest barbarism. Indeed, in 

H 5 



154 THE SAXON IN IRELAND. Chap. XIII. 

some of the villages on the south coast they are little, if 
any, better now ; as I can attest from my own observa- 
tion. It was after many difficulties, and much opposi- 
tion, that the colonists at length gained a footing ; and 
several schools have been established in various parts of 
the island, and three churches are already built, or in the 
course of erection. There is also an establishment called 
the " Orphan Refuge," whose object is the education of 
the children of Roman Catholic parents in the Pro- 
testant faith. One hundred children are here boarded, 
lodged, clothed, and educated, from a fund distinct from 
that of the Mission. The females, when sufficiently 
advanced, are sent out as servants : some of the boys 
are provided for in the same way, but more are brought 
up to trades. There are also established, under Dr. 
Adams, a hospital and a dispensary. The former is for 
the reception of settlers, and of others also, I believe, as 
accommodation allows. At the latter, advice and medi- 
cine are given to the islanders and the inhabitants of 
the surrounding districts. These particulars I have 
abridged from a small pamphlet, entitled, " A brief 
Statement of the Origin and Progress of the Achill 
Mission." Of the working of this Mission, of its spirit, 
of its controversies with the Archbishop of Tuam and 
his clergy, of its capabilities for good and the extent of 
its powers, I am ignorant. My sojourn in this Protestant 
valley was short, and I had no opportunities of forming 
any opinion as to its merits or its demerits, if any. In 
even a mere temporal sense, the benefits must be very 
considerable to the formerly neglected population of this 
island. In Dr. Adams, I was informed, they had a kind 
and most humane friend, who thus devotes the remainder 
of a long life to the good of his suffering fellow-creatures. 



Chap. XIII. SLIEVEMORE AND ITS ENVIRONS. 155 

It was with a deep feeling of respect and veneration that 
I took off my hat to this genuine philanthropist, as I 
passed him driving along the road in his carriage, pro- 
bably on some errand of mercy. 

Early on the morning after my arrival, I ascended 
Slievemore. It is a somewhat arduous undertaking, but 
the views from the summit amply repaid the fatigue. 
The whole of Achill lay below me like a map, as also 
the broad Atlantic to the west, Blacksod Bay and the 
islands of Inniskea to the north. Eastward, the long 
range of the Ballycroy mountains formed a glorious 
crescent, as indeed they do from every point along this 
coast ; while numberless inlets of the sea, lakes, and 
estuaries, gleamed afar, amid dreary wastes or partially 
cultivated shores. But what struck me most was, the 
bay formed by the promontory of Oughnaderk and Sad- 
dle Head. Here the cliffs rise up perpendicularly to 
a considerable elevation, and in one place display, as it 
were on a shelf hemmed in by impending rocks, the 
dark waters of Lough Nakeiroge. It was almost awful, 
though the day was calm, to see the wild tumult of the 
long waves, as they rolled in from the Atlantic and 
broke with resistless uproar against those cliffs, which 
spurned them back again, filling the air with spray, and 
covering the far-off sea with semicircles of foam. What 
must this fierce contest of waves and rocks be when a 
storm rages over the wide ocean beyond, and sends its 
immense billows against this iron-bound coast ? The 
walk from Slievemore by Saddle Head, and the bold pre- 
cipices of Croaghan Mountain, to Achill Head and Keem, 
I may boldly assert, cannot be surpassed Those in search 
of the really sublime should by no means visit Achill 
without exploring these scenes, of which no description 

H 6 



156 THE SAXON IN IRELAND. Chap. XIII. 

of mine can give even a faint idea : I feel, in fact, that 
you must be already wearied with my descriptive at- 
tempts, and you will remark how often my admiration 
of the wild or the beautiful withdraws my attention 
from the main object of these rambles. Were it not for 
this, I could fill many sheets in detailing to you all of 
the strange and the grand I witnessed in this day's ex- 
cursion. Saddle Head rises upwards of 500 feet from 
the sea, and the summit of Croaghan is about 2200. 
This mountain, from whatever side you view it, is cer- 
tainly one of the most remarkable in Ireland. Its 
peaked summit is supported on two sides by immense 
buttresses of rock, terminating on the land side in a 
hollow, which is occupied by a solitary lake, and, towards 
the Atlantic, rising from the very water's edge, and form- 
ing inaccessible precipices of more than a thousand feet 
in height. Here, indeed, is clearly manifest some violent 
disruption, which, severing the mountain into two parts, 
hurled one half into the deep abysses of the ocean. 
There is a tradition strongly impressed on the minds of 
the inhabitants of this coast, that Ireland is a mere in- 
ferior portion of a vast continent, which stretched far 
westward into the Atlantic. The distinct severance of 
one half of Croaghan Mountain, and the roots of large 
trees still visible on the coast below the water mark near 
Doona, go far to establish this theory. Keem is a most 
romantic spot. Two of the offshoots of Croaghan, jutting 
out into the sea, form a lovely little bay, in the hollow 
of which is situated the village, watered by a mountain 
stream. As I stood on the summit of one of these bold 
promontories, the scene below was calm and interesting, 
particularly after penetrating the sublime solitudes of 
Nakieroge and Achill Head. Nine or ten boats were 



Chap. XIII. KEEM. 157 

clustered together just outside the bay, engaged in fish- 
ing ; while a hooker, with her sail furled, lay quietly at 
anchor in the offing, waiting to purchase the fish as it 
was brought in, with the view of taking it to Westport 
for inland distribution. It was an interesting scene of 
peaceful industry, which one would wish might be 
oftener witnessed on these coasts, where Providence has 
amply provided for the wants and even the luxuries of 
man, would he only take possession of them. The 
mountain slopes around Keem are celebrated for the fine 
and well flavoured mutton they produce. Sheep, how- 
ever, I saw none ; but many hill cattle and kyloes, 
which certainly did credit to their pasture. Some were 
grazing quietly amid fearful precipices, and every ravine 
contained some picturesque groups of these hardy and 
adventurous mountaineers. The absence of sheep was 
accounted for by one of the farmers, whom we met and 
questioned. He said they could not be safely trusted 
to stray over the mountain as formerly. Since the great 
potato rot numbers had been stolen every year, and he 
had himself lost, in a few weeks, no less than forty 
sheep and twelve lambs ready for the butcher. They 
were actually taken, he said, from the very shed in which 
they had been locked up for shelter and safety. " If, 
however," continued the poor fellow, " it plazes the 
Almighty to send a good potato harvest, sure, it will 
all go well agen, and the poor craturs will forget all 
about it entirely." Descending this eastern elbow of 
Croaghan, I passed through the miserable (oh, how 
miserable !) villages of Dooagh and Keel. The huts, 
if indeed they may be even so called, are huddled to- 
gether without any regularity or order, and they re- 
minded me more of what I had read of Indian groups of 



158 THE SAXON IN IRELAND. Chap. XIII. 

wigwams, than the abodes of a Christian population ; 
and yet, all around, Nature seemed kind and bountiful. 
On every side I observed fine crops of potatoes and oats, 
and fish and fuel were in abundance ! In the famine, 
this island suffered dreadfully ; and I heard an intelligent 
landowner assert, that the living could scarcely bury the 
dead. There may be the usual amount of exaggeration 
in this ; but all accounts agree in representing the mor- 
tality as fearful. Many were buried where they were 
found starved to death. The truth of this I myself re- 
marked, on one occasion, as I passed along the shores of 
the large lake of Keel. Two headstones, near the road, 
marked the grave of one whose body had been found 
lifeless on the spot. It is but justice to the Mission to 
say, that through their indefatigable exertions and gene- 
rous efforts, the inhabitants were saved from almost utter 
annihilation. 

The Keel lake, along the shores of which I was pass- 
ing, was beautifully tranquil. It lay in the centre of a 
considerable plain, bounded on every side by mountains 
except the south, where it approaches within a mile of 
the lovely bay of Tramore. A small river connects it 
with the sea. I have seldom seen a view more striking 
than the one I gazed upon as I stood on the little 
bridge which crosses the stream just mentioned. To the 
north, the gigantic Slievemore stood out singly against 
the clear sky ; to the west, the craggy summit of 
Croaghan ; eastward, the tremendous cliffs of Minnaane 
rising perpendicularly from the sea more than 800 feet, 
along the very edge of which was visible the giddy, 
dangerous path made by the natives to the neigbouring 
valley of Dooega. To the southward, what was wanting 
in the sublime was fully compensated by unexampled 



Chap. XIII. NATURAL HISTOEY OF KEEM. 159 

loveliness, A calm quiet sea rolled gently upon the 
most beautiful sandy beach that eyes ever gazed upon. 
The rocky island of Inishgaloon, with its remarkable 
cavern, lay close on the western shore ; and in the far 
distance, over an immense surface of dark blue sea, were 
seen the high cliffs of Clare Island ; and, further still, 
Inishturc and the mountains of Murrisk ; and far be- 
yond again, almost vanishing into haze, the pointed 
summits of the Twelve Pins of Connemara. I did not 
return to the Colony, but late in the evening reached 
the Sound of Achill, after a most interesting ramble. 
The soils of this beautiful island are various, but do not 
certainly, as a whole, warrant the epithet so often applied, 
of barren. I saw many fertile spots, many highly im- 
provable ; and the universal voice of the West of Ireland 
proclaims the Keem-fed mutton to be unrivalled. The 
geological structure is uniform : mica slate, intermixed 
with quartz rocks, every where prevails, except on the 
southern portion of the Currawn mountains, where the 
old red sandstone is found. So abundant, occasionally, 
is the mica on the surface of the rocks, particularly on 
parts of Slievemore, that when the sun glances upon it, 
it shines like gold. The detritus of this rock is generally 
remarked as fertile. Near Keem I picked up several 
tolerable specimens of what the people here call ame- 
thysts ; the crystals thus coloured by nature were pretty 
and curious. To the ornithologist this island must 
afford a rich treat. I noticed several kinds of the sea- 
gull, and many birds that I had not before seen. An 
eagle of the large grey species (Aquila albicilla) was 
gorging himself near the Keem lake as we passed, and 
on being disturbed, joined his partner at some distance 
off, when both majestically soared aloft towards the in- 



160 THE SAXON IN IRELAND. Chap. XIII. 

accessible cliffs of Minnaane. The work of death or of 
expatriation has been busy in AchilL On the south 
side of Slievemore I passed by one village of more than 
thirty houses, that seemed almost entirely deserted. 
The small burial ground near it was crammed with 
recent occupants, and my young guide informed me 
that of those whom famine and disease had spared, many 
were now in America. It had been a pleasant location, 
and even now, its green knolls, its romantic dingles, and 
clear streamlets from the mountain side, were lovely to 
look upon. The words of Goldsmith had often recurred 
to my mind as I contemplated these scenes : — 

" Scourged by famine, from the smiling land 
The mournful peasant leads his humble band ; 
And while he sinks, without one arm to save, 
The country blooms — a garden, and a grave." 



161 



CHAP. XIV. 

SLIEVEMORE. — ME1LAN. — DR. MAC HALE AND THE REFORMED 
DIVINES OF ACHILL. 

Anxious to have another ramble in A chill, and to study 
yet more closely the geographical position of the neigh- 
bouring districts in relation to each other, I left the 
little inn at the Sound, and, crossing the ferry, took a 
quiet walk along the southern base of Slievemore to 
the signal tower, which commands extensive views, par- 
ticularly over Blacksod Bay, and the distant lands of 
Upper Erris. The day was hot, not a single cloud 
darkened the blue skies, a summer stillness prevailed, 
and for miles I saw no living creature ; no sheep con- 
gregated on the hill, no herd lowed in the valley. 
Traces of former human occupation were, however, fre- 
quently visible ; roofless buildings were too often to be 
met with in pleasant nooks and grassy dingles,. It was 
impossible, while gazing on this scene, not to think of 
the emigrants who had once dwelt here, and whose pre- 
sent hardships in a foreign land must of necessity be 
heightened by bitter regrets for what they had lost, and 
by the constantly recurring question of, ' Why were they 
compelled to desert their native land, when they were 
ready enough to work, and the soil gave an ample re- 
turn to labour?" It is certainly an enigma not easily 
solved by a wandering Saxon. The question arose to 



162 THE SAXON IN IRELAND. Chap. XIV. 

my mind — Suppose an English was substituted for an 
Irish population in one of these settlements, possessing 
precisely the same advantages and disadvantages of po- 
sition, would the same result ensue ? Would the same 
squalid poverty, the same apathy, the same servility 
and want of enterprize be apparent in the one as in the 
other after the lapse of a few years ? I cannot believe 
they would ; and yet we are told that the Irish emi- 
grants, when settled in America, are as cleanly in their 
persons and in their houses, as industrious in their 
habits and independent in their feelings, as any other 
class among whom they are mingled ! Education cer- 
tainly would do much — example more — to raise these 
unfortunates in the scale of civilization. In their na- 
tive country they are retained in ignorance, and they 
have no examples before them among their own class 
to work any reformation in their domestic habits ; but, 
when released from the fetters that thus bind them in 
their native land, they seem to breathe a freer air, their 
habits become more assimilated to those of the people 
around them, and such physical and moral virtues as 
they may possess have a better chance of development. 
From the lovely lough of Keele, which I again visited, 
my road lay over the cliffs of Minnaane, before mentioned, 
to Dooega, another of those miserable villages which 
disgrace this island. Much as I had already discovered 
in Achill of the sublime in scenery, this walk afforded 
me views equal to any I had seen, those, perhaps, 
excepted near Saddle Head. The path in one part 
runs along the very verge of the precipice ; and a person 
who had been sent from Dooega to meet me, pointed 
out a spot from whence a poor widow and her seven 
children had fallen, and been of course dashed in pieces, 



Chap. XIV. DE. MAC HALE'S VISIT TO ACHILL. 163 

during the prevalence of a thick fog, Following the 
valley from Dooega upwards, I passed Meillan where 
the respected rector of the parish has taken up his 
abode, and where he has collected together, with praise- 
worthy zeal, a considerable congregation. He has also 
schools, connected, I presume, with the Mission ; and it 
seems probable that ere another generation has passed 
away, the effects of these efforts must become strikingly 
visible. 

As I made my way from Dooega into the interior of 
the island there were manifest symptoms of excitement 
abroad. People were seen in their best garments de- 
scending the hills, and hurrying in groups along the 
roads ; and in answer to my inquiries, I was informed 
that Dr. Mac Hale, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of 
Tuam was that day to visit this portion of his diocese. 
On what errand the various groups I overtook were 
bound, whether to greet this dignitary, or from mere 
curiosity, I did not venture to inquire, but hurried on 
to see the reception of the once all-powerful, spiritual 
lord of this island. Meeting with a person having much 
the appearance of a Scripture reader, for several of 
these functionaries are employed by the Mission, I was 
informed by him that the rector of the island, the Rev. 
Mr. Seymour, had printed and sent a challenge to Dr. 
Mac Hale, to dispute, in presence of the people, on thir- 
teen propositions, embodying the principal differences 
between the Roman and Anglican Churches ; and this 
challenge was not only extensively placarded all over 
the island, but with another and very energetic missive 
from the Colony, penned by the Rev. Mr. Nangle, was 
dropped along the public roads of the neighbouring dis- 
tricts, as a ready mode of general distribution. Of these 



164 THE SAXON IN IRELAND. Chap. XIV. 

I myself picked up several as I travelled next day- 
through a portion of Ballycroy. My informant pre- 
sented me with copies of both the letters to Dr. Mac 
Hale. That by the Rev. Mr. Seymour was written in 
a firm and not ungentlemanly spirit for an Irish theo- 
logian ; the other was of the John Knox school, and 
boiled over with all the vehemence of Protestant indig- 
nation. The rector's letter was addressed " To the Most 
Rev. Dr. Mac Hale," and commenced, " Most Rev. Sir, 
— " As a minister of the Gospel of Christ, it is my solemn 
duty to feed those committed to my charge with the 
bread of everlasting life, and to warn them against all 
erroneous and strange doctrines contrary to Grod's 
Word. Therefore, having learned that it is your in- 
tention to visit my parish, and believing you to be a 
teacher of doctrines damnable and idolatrous, I feel 
bound by my ordination vows, not only to warn my 
people against your doctrines, but also to challenge you 
to prove out of the Sacred Scriptures the truth of the 
several doctrines undermentioned, which are held by the 
Church of Rome. I confine myself to the Scriptures 
as the rule of faith, because I hold with St. Paul ' that 
they are able to make us wise unto salvation through 
faith which is in Christ Jesus;' and I hold, therefore, 
with the Catholic Church of this country, that the ' Holy 
Scripture containeth all things necessary to salvation,' " 
&c. &c. Where, and at what exact time, this discussion 
was to take place, did not appear to be settled, but the 
rector of Achill, accompanied by the Rev. Mr. Camp- 
bell, the Rev. Mr. M , his curate, and several Scrip- 
ture readers, with certain of their friends in the island, 
certainly did meet the R. C. Archbishop and his ac- 
companying clergy face to face, and did then and there, 



Chap. XIV. DR. MAC HALE AT ACHILL. 165 

at the ferry of the Sound of Achill, give Dr. Mac Hale 
and his clergy an opportunity of maintaining and prov- 
ing the doctrines which they preached, if so be they 
were able and willing so to do. I was not present at 
this scene, but I was informed that Dr. Mac Hale and 
his party passed on without deigning to notice either 
the presence or the challenge of the reformed divines. 
I was about two miles from the ferry when I first caught 
sight of the procession. At a distance the scene was 
animated and picturesque. A number of persons, 
whether inhabitants or not, I could not tell, followed 
the carriage or crowded round it, in which sat the Arch- 
bishop and his chaplains, I presume. Another carriage 
followed, containing priests also, as I was informed, 
then the cortege. At a distance all appeared gay — ban- 
ners waved, and hats were raised ; but when the caval- 
cade passed me all the romance was gone. Achill 
contains 6000 inhabitants, but of these scarce a hundred 
were there. The appearance too of these people was 
wretched in the extreme; a few, certainly, rode horses, 
or rather ponies, of the rough hill breed ; but otherwise 
they had no air of substance about them. Most were 
on foot, keeping up as best they might ; and the gay 
banners, when seen nearer, turned out to be ragged hand- 
kerchiefs of coloured cotton, or gaudy remnants of whilom 
clothing. In the race of violent antagonism, the Roman 
Catholics of Ireland stand but little chance against the 
increasing liberalism of the present age. They certainly 
at present stem the torrent resolutely ; but secular edu- 
cation, in spite of all their efforts, will be introduced, 
and with it an untameable spirit of independence, which 
augurs ill for their future power, if based on the arbi- 
trary and exclusive principles they at present so boldly 



166 THE SAXON IN IKELAND. Chap. XIV. 

put forward. They are far from politic also in taking 
up so violent a political position, and in using their 
spiritual influence for secular purposes. They gain 
nothing by this but the suspicion and distrust of those 
who would be their friends ; and the hostile attitude they 
too often assume towards England, by retarding im- 
provement and the introduction of capital, perpetuates 
misery and degradation among their unfortunate fellow- 
countrymen. And yet they can number many devoted 
servants of their Lord and Master — men who labour in 
season and out of season for the good of their flocks — 
who leave polemics to the more bitter spirits among 
them, and are anxious only to perforin their duties and 
to live in peace. 

When the procession had passed, and I was left alone 
and in silence on the mountain side, many painful 
thoughts arose from the scene I had witnessed. It ap- 
peared that religion here brought with it not peace, but 
a sword! " Peace on earth, good will towards men," is 
the inscription on the Christian banner. What con- 
struction then was I to put upon the scene so lately 
before my eyes ? Could I, or could any rational well- 
judging Christian, assert that salvation is confined to 
either church ? Why then all this fierce antagonism ? 
If men will fight for heaven, let it be the good fight of 
faith, of mutual love and forbearance. These fierce re- 
ligious contests have no religion in them. Where is 
that " lowliness and meekness with long suffering, for- 
bearing one another in love," which the Apostle so 
strongly sets forth as the very marrow and pith of Chris- 
tian principle ? Where men are in error they will sel- 
dom be coerced into the truth ; the natural obstinacy 
of human nature is roused, and passion blocks up the 



Chap. XIV. RELIGIOUS CONDITION OF IRELAND. 167 

way to reason. The spirit of a man rises when he is 
branded with hard names ; and many, be they heathens or 
schismatics, who from conviction might have embraced 
the truth, feel a repugnance to join those who exhibit 
such undisguised abhorrence of what they have been 
taught in early years to believe and to reverence. Nay, I 
will go further than this ; I assert that many good Pro- 
testants have grown lukewarm in the cause of reforma- 
tion in consequence of the over zeal of their own party, 
and many enlightened Roman Catholics are beyond mea- 
sure pained at the blind and coercive bigotry of their 
brethren. In the endeavour to take away from the mass of 
the people all reverence for that faith in which they were 
brought up, the Irish reformers ought to be sure that they 
give them something better. At present, in a moral point 
of view, the priests possess and exercise considerable in- 
fluence over their flocks for good ; it is of vital import- 
ance to know what new influences are to be put in 
motion when the old ones are destroyed. If hatred and 
emulation and strife are to be inculcated as principles of 
action, — if the population are to be arrayed one against 
another in a spirit of bitter dissension, — if to be a Pro- 
testant it is necessary also to be an open and offensive 
reviler and denouncer of the Romanist, — then I say it is 
far better to allow matters to remain as they are. In 
these remarks I wish it to be distinctly understood, that 
I am glancing at no particular persons, I am speaking 
generally of Ireland and its religious condition. The 
Irish people are shrewd enough to form a judgment 
between parties, and the sight of a hard-working, cha- 
ritable, beneficent, and peaceable body of clergy among 
them, would produce a far more lasting effect upon their 
minds, than a thousand tomes of theological casuistry. 



168 THE SAXON IN IRELAND. Chap. XIV. 

As education and enlightenment advance, exclusiveness 
becomes weaker ; men are beginning, even in Ireland, to 
think for themselves. The human will is at this mo- 
ment, all the world over, taking up a position, I say not 
whether for good or evil, such as it never before so ge- 
nerally asserted since the dispersion of the nations over 
the earth. If differences could be merged, if hatred 
and emulation could be thrown aside, if the various 
bodies of Christians could be brought to work together 
in peace, endeavouring, each, rather to amend them- 
selves than to convert others, the truth would have a 
better chance of ultimate victory. Varieties of forms, dif- 
ferences of church government, there might be ; but vital 
Christianity would be strengthened and increase, the 
causes of separation would wax fainter and fainter, till 
the greater body of Christians, seeing no victory was to 
be won but over their adversary the devil, would be 
more inclined to merge differences, to forget injuries, 
and to unite in forming what Christ intended his Church 
to be — " one fold under one shepherd." 






169 



CHAP. XV. 

; BALLYCROY. — MR. MAXWELL. — CROT LODGE. — DOONA 
CASTLE. — FAHY LOUGH. 

The district known as Ballycroy, a peculiar but very 
fine tract of country, comprehends the southern portion 
of the Half Barony of Erris. Apart from the occasional 
beauty of the scenery, it wears at present a wild and a 
dreary aspect ; but the agricultural eye wanders over it 
at the same time with delight and impatience : delight, 
to witness such an accumulation of capabilities ; impa- 
tience, to see them undeveloped. A short description 
will soon convey to you a pretty exact idea of the situ- 
ation of this almost unknown and unvisited tract. 
Imagine a vast plain with an irregular surface stretching 
down to a shore of more than ten miles in extent, and 
indented with numerous bays and creeks, and the broad 
estuaries of three considerable rivers, — the Owenmore, 
the Owenduff, and the Owen-a-vrea or Bellaveeny river. 
These all take their rise from mountain lakes, of which 
some are between one and two thousand feet above the 
level of the plain, and numerous tributaries are dis- 
tributed over the whole district, sometimes falling over 
rocky beds, sometimes wending their more quiet course 
through deep hollow banks of alluvial soil. This plain 
is pleasingly diversified also by many abrupt knolls and 
ridgy hills of low elevation, and near its centre rises 

I 



170 THE SAXON" IN IRELAND. Chap. XV. 

the conical mountain of Glore Slieve, rising about 900 
feet from the level of the sea. But the grand feature 
of Bally croy is the semicircular range of mountains so 
often described, by which this fine tract is enclosed, in- 
clining from the north far to the eastward, and return- 
ing again with a graceful sweep to the southwest. 
These do not form one continuous ridge, but each 
mountain generally rises from its own base, and they 
exhibit between them deep and romantic valleys, pre- 
senting in the many alternations of light and shade a 
variety of prospects, no less interesting than diversified, 
made up of rocky masses, heathy slopes, lofty precipices, 
deep ravines, and craters now occupied by silent lakes, 
all sinking into shadow or lighting up into brilliance, 
according as the sun is obscured, or bursts out again 
from the clouds that oppress its splendour. In the 
centre stands Nephin Beg, rising almost perpendicularly 
from the vale of Mamarattah, through which and the 
adjoining district of Lurgandarrigg runs the principal 
source or stream of the Owenduff river. To the left 
are Slieve Alp, Corse-lieve and Lettercuss, their bases 
watered by tributaries of the same river ; and to the 
right of Nephin Beg, making a rapid bend towards the 
south-west, are the lofty peaks above Carreg-a-binniog, 
and those of Slieve Thaumaus, Glendahurk, &c, stretch- 
ing far westward, till they meet the dark and gloomy 
heights of Currawn. These mountains, as before stated, 
are still the refuge of the wild deer ; but these animals 
are now rarely seen, for they confine themselves princi- 
pally to the most inaccessible heights or the grassy and 
precipitous edges of the many lonely lakes and solitary 
glens. Red grouse, hares, snipes, and waterfowl, are 
in great abundance ; the lakes and rivers, nay, even the 



Chap. XV. BALLYCROY — ITS SCENERY. 171 

very streamlets, abound with fish of unusual weight and 
excellent flavour ; and the woodcock shooting is unsur- 
passed, the masses of that beautiful shrub called the 
Mediterranean heath affording a thick covert, and the 
numerous springs abundance of food. The many creeks 
and bays, too, contribute their share of enjoyment and 
profit. Beds of delicious oysters are found ; lobsters, 
and cockles, and other shell-fish abound, and the sea 
waters teem with almost every description of fish, suf- 
ficient, were industry and capital at hand, to supply the 
whole island. Salmon frequents most of the rivers in 
Erris ; and though the fisheries are far from being 
conducted as they should be, there is still a large 
quantity of salmon caught every season, while enough 
is left to afford abundant sport to the angler. The 
Owen-a-vrea or Bellaveeny river is small, but con- 
tains trout, which do not appear early, and are 
generally in most abundance about August. A little 
care and outlay, I was informed, would also make this, 
to some extent, a salmon river, but I should much 
doubt it. There are many of those deep pools and 
rapid currents so congenial to the habits of this king of 
the fishes, in the OwendufF river, and also in the 
Owenmore, but the inexcusable and pernicious habit 
of torch-light poaching has been carried on there to a 
destructive extent, from the absence of common care 
and vigilance. There are many methods of killing the 
salmon : sometimes the poachers form a kind of weir 
in the shallows, by placing large stones across the river, 
and as the fish are thus forced to show themselves as 
they ascend, they are knocked on the head or speared 
by the fellows watching for them. The method of 
torch-light poaching, or, as they here term it, " burning 

I 2 



172 THE SAXON IN IRELAND. Chap. XV. 

the river," is however most destructive, and is practised 
as the fish ascend the heads of the rivers to deposit their 
spawn. They use the dried bog wood for torches ; and 
I was informed that in the Pass of Lurrigane, where 
the salmon usually deposit their spawn in one of the 
principal sources of the OwendufT river, so numerous 
sometimes are the depredators, that the whole course of 
the stream for miles may be traced on a dark night by 
the moving light of these glaring torches. None of 
these rivers have hitherto been sufficiently guarded; 
otherwise there are not any superior to them in Ireland. 
The fox, the otter, and the badger, abound, and the 
naturalist will here find several species of the eagle, 
besides many other birds of prey. These make havoc 
among the game and fish, and were their numbers 
reasonably diminished, I know no country which would 
present more unbounded gratification to the sportsman. 
But it is not these things that so particularly interest 
me in the contemplation of this district, though as ad^ 
juncts to more important advantages they certainly 
have their weight. The agricultural capabilities of the 
soil are so manifest everywhere in the plain and on the 
lower slopes of the mountains, that it seems surprising 
that this district has for so many ages been so little known, 
and so partially cultivated. Under a proper system of 
culture this land would have yielded employment and 
food for multitudes, whereas now it has barely sup- 
ported a scanty and scattered population of a few hun- 
dreds, and returned to the proprietor a mere acknow- 
ledgment of ownership in the shape of paltry rents for 
the pasturage of cattle. On the banks of the rivers 
and brooks large tracks of deep alluvial soil are to be 
found, which only require fencing and partially draining 



Chap. XV. WANT OF PROPER CULTURE. 173 

to form meadows of immediate value. On these spots 
also, if reduced into tillage, would grow crops of grain 
with little help ; but if well and generously farmed 
would amply repay the labour and capital bestowed 
upon them. The Bellaveeny Estate*, which lies at 
the foot of the Grreenaun and Claggan mountains, par- 
ticularly bears out this description. The verdant banks 
of this stream, and the many tributaries which flow into 
it, invite that attention which they have never yet re- 
ceived, and it is impossible not to perceive at a glance 
that a valuable property might be formed from many 
thousand acres of land now lying neglected and almost 
desert. Adjoining this property are the townlands of 
Shrahduggane and Bellygarvaun, both including some 
fine mountain slopes, as well as a considerable extent of 
plain. The vegetable soil or bog is not too deep here 
to enable the subsoil to be raised to the surface ; and 
were the prices of produce in a fair degree remunerative, 
there is no doubt but that arable cultivation would 
here make a large and steady return. Even in their 
present condition, they afford excellent pasturage to a 
large number of cattle and sheep, but this by a judicious 
system of drainage might be augmented in a threefold 
proportion. The large plain of Ballycroy affords, from 
the unevenness of its surface, and its gradual slope 
towards the sea from the base of the mountains, un- 
usual facilities for draining. Few of those almost in- 
terminable flats which are observable in the interior of 
Ireland, and especially in the Bog of Allen, are to be 
found in this district, the surface everywhere either 

* This townland, together with Shrahduggane and Bellygarvaun 
which adjoin it, are now the property of an Englishman by recent 
purchase. 

I 3 



174 THE SAXON IN IRELAND. Chap. XV. 

undulates or slopes seaward; and taking any of the 
townlands, it will generally be found that a few mains 
will be sufficient to receive all the other drains requisite 
for its reclamation. What the many knolls and long 
low ridges contain I know not as yet, probably clay or 
gravelly loam, either of which, though inferior to lime, 
gravel, or marl, spread upon the surface of the bog, 
greatly assists in reducing it to a friable mould. In 
one place, near the chapel, I procured some sand, 
forming a stratum under either the clay or gravel. 
This, on being tested, betrayed the presence of lime ; 
and it is possible that much of this may be found in 
various parts, and would form, in the interior portions 
of the plain, an excellent substitute for the coral sand 
of the coast. The profitable improvement of these and 
similar waste lands is no longer a theory but a fact. 
Mr. R. Griffith, than whom no one from his extended 
experience is capable of giving a better opinion, has 
published a somewhat startling statement on the sub- 
ject. Having described his general plan of improve- 
ment to be the increasing the quantity and quality of 
the mountain pasture, by forming one large drain on 
the mountain side for the purpose of irrigation, and 
that this simple operation would increase the means of 
rearing five to one, and that 100,000 acres could be 
improved in this way, he adds, " If the more detailed 
plan of irrigation (alluding to Mr. Nimmo's plan for 
the Kerry mountains) were adopted, the quantity of 
hay would become so great, that the farmer would be 
obliged to vary his species of stock to consume it; 
he must then have recourse to stall feeding, which 
would necessarily induce the growth of turnips and a 
detail of agriculture for which the country is by no means 



Chap. XV. DEFICIENCY OF DKAINAGE. 175 

prepared (?)" It appears, then, that in Mr. Griffith's 
opinion the fertility of certain of the waste lands, under 
a proper system of drainage, would be absolutely too 
great for the wants of the population ; but as this was 
written in 1835, I believe matters may now be much 
altered. Mr. Nimmo in his evidence before a parlia- 
mentary committee, in 1819, makes this declaration: — - 
" I am so perfectly convinced of the practicability of 
converting the bogs I have surveyed into arable land, 
and that, too, at an expence that need hardly ever 
exceed the gross value of one years crop produced from 
them, that I declare myself willing, for a reasonable 
consideration, to undertake the drainage of any given 
piece of any considerable extent, and the formation of 
its roads for one guinea per acre." The remarks I 
have made upon Bellaveeny, &c, apply to the other 
townlands of the district in a greater or less degree : 
in some portions the bog lands are deeper, in some less 
in quantity, being replaced on the higher grounds by 
green upland pasture ; but everywhere the banks of the 
streams are of nearly the same valuable character, and 
the hills, though of course varying, yet afford on every 
side abundant pasture, with pleasant springs and stream- 
lets. As the slopes from the mountains approach the 
coast, several gentle swells occur, such as those called 
Castle Hill, the Hill of Claggan, Drimgollah, &c, where 
much land is now in cultivation by small farmers, and 
where there is also a good dry sandy loam, easily worked 
at all seasons of the year. From these eminences, the 
views are truly magnificent ; and if the many small and 
inconvenient enclosures were thrown together, the hold- 
ings consolidated, and a proper system of cropping and 

i 4 



176 THE SAXON IN IRELAND. Chap. XV. 

working adopted, I do not know more fertile or valuable 
farms than these would make. Near the shore are 
occasionally small plains, consisting principally of sandy 
soil, where the shamrock grow T s in great abundance, and 
which by proper attention might be made capable of 
fattening bullocks. Portions of the townlands of Doreel 
and Fahy answer this description. Finding that I had 
yet some time on my hands, I extended my rambles to 
the northern portion of Bally croy, crossing the river 
Ovenduff above the salmon weir, over a strongly built 
stone bridge, near which is the pleasantly situated 
Lodge of Mr. Davison, who with Mr. Amber, an 
English gemtleman, has taken, on a long lease, a con- 
siderable tract of these lands from Sir Richard O'Donnell. 
Mr. Amber lives at another lodge a few miles distant, 
nearer the centre of their property, and at both places 
improvements are being rapidly and scientifically exe- 
cuted upon a large scale. The success of these en- 
lightened settlers is likely to have a great effect on the 
future prospects of the whole district. As I before 
remarked, such men are real patriots, and the blessings 
they confer upon a district such as Ballycroy are beyond 
all calculation, provided only that they are enabled to 
persevere and to conquer finally all the numerous ob- 
stacles that must impede their progress. Recent legis- 
lation has certainly, by lowering prices, done much to 
discourage these bold individual efforts, but the English 
or Scotch settler is not easily daunted; and judging 
from the extent of works in progress near the residences 
of these gentlemen, and the abundant employment they 
are giving to the labourers of the district, I could not 
but surmise that they see their way to a successful 



Chap. XV. CROY LODGE. — MR. MAXWELL. 177 

result.* From Mr. Davison's Lodge, I proceeded up 
the beautiful river OwendufT to another lodge built by 
T. O. Lees, Esq., who, principally for the purpose of 
angling, resides for a portion of the year in this locality. 
Near this place the river divides into two considerable 
streams, the one called the Tarsaghanemore, the other 
the OwendufT, both taking their rise in the mountains 
eastward, the former from the Grlen-na-degan, and the 
latter from the lake of Corranabinna, far to the south 
or south-east. Close to the OwendufT is a sporting 
lodge, built, I was told, either by Mr. Maxwell or 
Mr. Vernon, and surrounded by every inducement for 
the lover of the rod and gun. I saw it indistinctly 
when I ascended the summit of the Carregabinniog 
mountain, but was unable that day to visit it as I had 
intended. The various pools in these rivers are noted 
resorts of salmon ; and here, amid the grandest of 
Nature's scenes the angler may enjoy himself to his 
heart's content. Again, passing by Mr. Davison's 
house, I made my way by a road, skirted on each side 
by flourishing potato and oat grounds, to Croy Lodge, 
interesting as having once been the residence of Mr. 
Maxwell, whose lively, and in the main correct descrip- 

* I regret sincerely to say that this is not the case. These gentlemen, 
unable to continue the large scale of improvements which they had com- 
menced, with any prospect of a sufficient immediate return in the present 
state of agriculture, have surrendered their leases. Had their opera- 
tions been more limited they might have succeeded better. A portion ot 
these lands have been purchased by an English gentleman of enterprise 
and capital ; and the remainder, I believe, is also disposed of to another 
party from the same country. Any friend of Ireland must hail these 
facts as encouraging and important. The far west seems at present the 
favourite district for English and Scotch investment, and I am not sur- 
prised. 

i 5 



178 THE SAXON IN IEELAND. Chap. XV. 

tions of this district are well known to the public. My 
intelligent guide over the mountains from Newport into 
Ballycroy knew Mr. Maxwell well, had often accom- 
panied him in his shooting excursions, and bore willing 
testimony to the veracity of his statements. It is im- 
possible to read the " Wild Sports of the West," with- 
out the deepest interest ; for apart from its many lively 
legends and stirring incidents by field and flood, it 
gives a more veritable description of Irish scenery and 
manners in these remote parts, than any work I have 
hitherto met with. To Mr. Maxwell Ballycroy is also 
much indebted for the first detailed notice that ever 
appeared of its beauties and capabilities. His eloquent 
work was so universally read, that many were thereby 
induced to relax their prejudices, and to visit a country 
which before was deemed inaccessible, and its inha- 
bitants savage and unapproachable. Croy Lodge is a 
long building, without pretensions, situated near the 
outlet of the river into Tullaghane Bay, and on the 
tongue of land which divides the the Ballycroy river 
from the still larger Owenmore. Here great numbers 
of salmon are annually caught, averaging, I was told, 
not fewer than 500 per day during the season ! Re- 
membering, as I well did, all the pleasant scenes passed 
at this spot, as narrated by Mr. Maxwell, I was deeply 
interested ; and as the day was not far spent, and the 
tide was running out, I took a boat across the ferry, 
and landing on the opposite side of the river, walked 
over the most delightful sands I ever trod to Lough 
Fahy and the old castle of Doona. Lough Fahy, or 
Fach-ey, as it is pronounced, is a lake of considerable 
size, receiving the sea-water at full tides ; and between 
it and the sea-shore is a rocky isthmus, on a point of 



Chap. XV. DOONA CASTLE. 179 

which is situated the old castle or fortalice of Doona. 
As we approach, leaving the shores of Tullaghan Bay 
behind us, we look out into the far Atlantic, having a 
bar or sand bank opposite, over which the wild surge 
was beating violently. A curious geological fact before 
noticed here caused me to pause for a moment. The 
roots of huge trees, in some cases rising a foot from the 
level of the sand, frequently interrupted my path. 
They were covered by the sea when the tide was in, 
and, strange to say, they seemed to grow in a boggy 
stratum, thinly covered with sand, though no bog was 
visible on the shore for a considerable distance. Was 
Doona Castle, then, built on the margin of an extensive 
forest, reaching to the very sea ? or was this portion of 
the coast submerged previous to its erection? The 
nearer I approached the Castle, the wilder became the 
scene. Gusts of wind drove up the small flying clouds 
from the distance, and as the waves broke upon the 
sandy beach, the spray would often sweep over me in 
showers. When within a short distance of the pro- 
montory, I found the sands, which had hitherto afforded 
a level road, encumbered with masses of rocks, of 
all shapes and sizes, and rendered slippery by sea- 
weed. Picking my way carefully and with some toil 
through this labyrinth, I at length gained the Castle, 
and seating myself upon a mass of fallen wall, the 
highest attainable point, I gazed long upon the singular 
scene before me. It was a complete and noble pano- 
rama, a combination of sea and land, plain and moun- 
tain, in every variety the imagination can conceive. It 
would be useless to attempt any description, for the 
objects were so various, the scene so extensive, that it 
must be viewed to be understood. Never shall I forget 

x 6 



180 THE SAXON IN IRELAND. Chap. XV. 

the appearance of Slievemore from this spot. It rose 
up singly in the distance, like a vast cone. At this 
moment, not a cloud rested upon it ; the summit reared 
itself into the heavens, clear and distinct, and, like the 
Peak of TenerifFe, it seemed to stand solitary and alone 
on the edge of the boundless ocean. To the east was 
the fine semicircle of mountains, so often before de- 
scribed, to which the dark and now disturbed lough of 
Fahy formed an appropriate foreground. This fine 
lake is remarkable for the innumerable flocks of wild 
fowl by which it is frequented. Wild ducks, widgeon, 
teal, Solan geese, swans, and several species of the gull, 
haunt these lonely waters, and in winter vast numbers 
might be taken and distributed in the more inland parts 
at a fair profit. I saw abundance of snipes, not in 
single pairs, but actually in flocks ; and as I walked 
near the sedgy margin of the lake, these delicious little 
birds, as well as wild ducks, rose in fresh numbers at 
almost every step as I advanced. 

The Castle, on whose mouldering walls I was now 
sitting, was appropriately placed as a guard on the en- 
trance of Tullaghane Bay on one side, and the Bull's 
Mouth on the other. This well-known narrow strait 
connects Blacksod Bay with the waters of Achill Sound, 
so that vessels taking this course avoid the stormv and 
circuitous route of Saddle Head. It is a curious fact 
that the tides from the north and south both rushing 
into this channel meet midway, so that a vessel entering 
from the north takes advantage of the flowing tide for 
one half of the distance, and of the ebbing tide for the 
other, and vice versa. Doona Castle * was in an almost 

* Though tradition awards the founding of this castle to Grania Waile, 
I believe it to have been erected centuries before she existed. It has 



Chap. XV. MRS. CONWAY. 181 

perfect state within a few years, but it suffered consi- 
derable damage from a fire, by which a portion of the 
main tower was destroyed. In a respectable residence, 
built under the shelter of the old Castle walls, resides 
Mrs. Conway, a lady who has experienced many vicis- 
situdes, and who is now waiting calmly for the hour 
which must end all earthly anxieties and cares. I had 
the pleasure of sitting with her, and hearing her con- 
versation for some time ; and apart from the somewhat 
national peculiarities of her phraseology, which how- 
ever were not unpleasing, I have seldom met with a 
person of more ladylike manners and feelings. Her 
house was a good specimen of Ireland's better days, as 
indicating the habits of the once respectable class of 
leaseholders. The porch led into a spacious kitchen, 
at the further end of which was the parlour. Here the 
old lady sat, and though, as is now the case with most 
of her class, fortune has frowned upon her, yet her erect 
mien, her strictly clean and neat apparel, her counte- 
nance expressive at once of trial and resignation, gave 
a great interest to her personal appearance. The room 
had its interest also : over the chimney-piece was a 
print of the mater dolorosa, deer's horns decorated the 
walls, a press or cabinet of black oak, probably from 
' the bogs, filled up one corner, and in another was that 
rare appendage to an Irish farm-house, a clock in a 
case of the same wood. This, in Ireland's more palmy 
days, was ever one of the most hospitable abodes in the 

every external and internal mark of a much earlier period ; and the sur- 
mise of Mr. Maxwell, in his amusing romance of " the Black Lady of 
Doona," that it was for many ages the stronghold of several successive 
powerful septs or tribes, and was besieged and taken forcible possession o. 
by the stern Queen of the West, appears to me most probable. 



182 THE SAXON IN IRELAND. Chap. XV. 

district, and the name of the Conways will long be re- 
membered after the last representative of the family is 
called to her final home. The soil around Doona ap- 
peared fertile, and I noticed that the crops of various 
kinds were much earlier than in England. But here, 
as every where else, energy seems to have departed. 
Fields once tilled, and capable of bearing any kind of 
crop, were lying totally neglected, covered with weeds 
and long grass. The townland is leased out for three 
lives, of which two are dead and the other aged. It is 
probable, therefore, that the present occupants feel 
little interest in improvements, and hope possibly that 
by leaving the land in bad condition they may be able 
to retake their holdings on lower terms ; at least, this 
ruse is not unfrequent. Now in such a case the pro- 
prietor has no redress ; and he is compelled, either at a 
great cost to take the lands in hand and bring them into 
letting condition, or he must consent to a ruinous sa- 
crifice, in order to induce a tenant to enter at once. It 
strikes me, that the Tenant Right cry is absurd in all 
its bearings, if it blinks the landlord's right. If the 
legislature must interfere at all, which is I conceive 
both unnecessary and impolitic, it should protect the 
landlord as well as the tenant. The instances of injury 
inflicted on landlords are far more numerous than those 
inflicted on tenants. And this remark I extend to 
England, and can vouch for its truth from my own ex- 
perience. In a majority of cases, farms are given up to 
the landlords in a worse state than the tenants took to 
them, and the process of recovering damages in these 
cases is so tedious and so hazardous, that the proprietor 
had rather submit to the loss than spend money in pro- 
curing that redress which the outgoing tenant cannot, 



Chap. XV. EVILS OF SMALL FAKMING. 183 

perhaps, or will not, after all, afford to pay. In Ireland, 
at present, the real value of a property consists in the 
paucity of its tenants ; a property without any tenants 
at all affords some hope of ultimate improvement by 
the allocation of a different class of men, on very dif- 
ferent terms, or by the personal occupation of the pro- 
prietor. At present, the latter expedient is the most 
sure. The number of petty tenants is one of the curses 
of Ireland, and many of these having the usual leases 
of thirty-one years, or three lives, the remedy can be 
but slow. These men subdivide their little farms into 
the minutest allotments that can be supposed to subsist 
a human being, and the poor wretched undertenants 
are thus ground down to the very verge of starvation ; 
nay more, they die in numbers, of famine, on these 
wretched holdings. Whereas was the English and 
Scotch system of large farms adopted, the now wretched 
occupiers of small allotments would become labourers, 
and the burdens upon land and the condition of the 
people be altogether improved. Nothing but the keen- 
est distress, and the proved utter impracticability of 
keeping up the present system, so as to procure any 
return from their estates, will convince the Irish pro- 
prietors of this truth; — it is a truth, however, daily 
forcing itself on their notice, and in a way, too, they 
cannot fail to comprehend. Better that Ireland should 
become one vast sheepwalk, than that it should con- 
tinue as it now is. And this feeling more and more 
establishes itself in my mind, as I travel and observe 
more closely the condition and habits of the people. It 
seems to be the general impression that under the pre- 
sent system of free trade, the Irish landlord must sink, 
and his tenantry with him. If the rule is to hold good 



184 THE SAXON IN IRELAND. Chap. XV. 

(so they argue) that " Irish property must support Irish 
poverty,'' and while adding burdens to those which 
already oppress the proprietors of the soil, you take 
away their market, and thus debar them from finding 
the means to meet these obligations, the result is a mere 
matter of arithmetic. The effect of the policy of the 
government, therefore, appears to be, say they, to drive 
out the present race and create new interests. The 
lever is applied to the present system, and it must and 
will fall to pieces. I myself presume to offer no opinion. 
The only question, perhaps, for enlightened politicians 
to decide is, Whether the breaking up of the present 
state of things could have been less rudely and cruelly 
accomplished. It is truly lamentable to witness the 
revolution that is now taking place, particularly in its 
effects on individual cases, where real patriotism and 
generous enterprize should, if possible, have caused ex- 
ceptions. Some of the most zealous improvers that 
Ireland ever possessed, particularly in the West, having 
exhausted their means and raised money on their pro- 
perties under the conviction that remunerative prices 
would continue, find themselves at once engulphed in the 
common ruin, without any fault of theirs. Their 
estates are sold for less than half their supposed value, 
and they are turned adrift with their families, ruined 
and destitute. It certainly appears a harsh policy ; 
time must prove how far it has been a wise one. The 
landowners complain also that these continual changes 
in the law damp all enterprize, that they are thus de- 
barred, as prudent men, from improving their estates ; 
that they are afraid to give employment to the poor, 
lest the outlay may never be returned to them ; that 
time should have been given to them to set their houses 



Chap. XV. A FUNEKAL. 185 

in order ; and that it was unjust, at one blow, to in- 
crease their burdens and decrease their receipts.* 

I had sat long on the castle-wall of Doona, wonder- 
ing how it was that a country so beautiful, so blessed 
by Heaven, could be thus desolate and wretched, 
when my eye wandering over the dark and gloomy 
Lough Fahy caught sight of a procession slowly ap- 
proaching a ruined church that stood bleak and lonely 
on the hill side. It was a funeral. I had heard of 
Irish funerals, but never having witnessed one, I de- 
scended from my position, and took a circuitous direc- 
tion to the spot. To my surprise there was no lament- 
ation, nor, indeed, any sound save the heavy tread of 
the bearers, who, when they had deposited their burden 
within the ruin, at once departed. I raised myself 
upon the stone work of what had once been the chancel, 
and watched the proceedings within. The coffin, which 



* The present position of the Irish proprietors may be guessed from 
the following," paragraph in " The Times," of October the 18th : — " Mr. 
Commissioner Curran held a Court at Castlebar yesterday, for the relief 
of insolvent debtors. There were 13 applicants seeking to be discharged 
They were of a class of persons totally different from those who usually 
appear in courts of this description. One is a landed proprietor whose 
rental was estimated at from 2,0007. to 3,000Z. per annum, and he is also 
a deputy lieutenant and magistrate for the county. Another is, or 
was, an extensive Government contractor, who some years since pur- 
chased a considerable estate in this county ( Mayo), and was supposed to 
be very wealthy. A third is a landed proprietor, and justice of the 
peace near this town. A fourth is a landed proprietor, and magistrate 
of this county, and an extensive grazing farmer, and the fifth is one of 
the oldest and most upright magistrates of the county ; the owner of a 
small estate, and also a very extensive grazier and tillage farmer. The 
case of this gentleman excited considerable interest in court, because of 
his age, upwards of seventy years, and the unblemished character for 
honesty and integrity which he had hitherto borne." 



186 THE SAXON" IN IRELAND. Chap. XV. 

was a mere deal box of the rudest workmanship, rested 
on the ground ; several persons were engaged removing 
some stones from the surface. This done, they scratched 
away a few inches' depth of — I would willingly call it 
mould or earth — but it was not quite that, it was a 
substance well known in Metropolitan church-yards. 
This done, they raised a similar box, which was now 
exposed to view, and in its place they crammed the 
one just brought. Around was scattered a shocking 
collection of sculls, tibiae, and other bones. I counted 
twenty-four sculls. The accumulation of decayed ani- 
mal matter reached up to the piscina, or place for holy 
water, so as almost to conceal it, and the fetor was so 
noisome that I turned away with disgust. Nothing in 
unfortunate Ireland has so completely convinced me of 
the debased condition of the people as these melancholy 
exhibitions. They are a disgrace to the country, nega- 
tiving its pretensions to be considered a civilized or 
Christian land. The destitution, the filth, the naked- 
ness of the Irish cottage may be removed by removing 
the poverty which engendered them ; faults, no doubt, 
they are, and grievous ones, but they are the faults of 
circumstance : here it is the heart, the moral feeling 
that is deficient; men, nay, even women, can stand by 
and see the remains of all they held dear crammed for 
a while into a mere shallow hole till the place is wanted 
for some other tenant, and then the body is dragged 
from its resting-place, and exposed on the bare earth, 
for dogs to devour, and the elements to do their work 
upon it. A custom like this is no less detrimental to 
the health than to the morals, and many places are ren- 
dered by it almost inaccessible to those who are not 



Chat. XV. RETURN TO CROY LODGE. 187. 

habituated to such things. I remember, many years 
ago, a friend of mine complaining to me that he could 
not enter Mucruss Abbey, close to the residence of the 
Protestant Herberts.* Cong Abbey, one of the most 
interesting remains in Ireland, is, as I have before men- 
tioned, similarly desecrated, and yet with one honour- 
able exception, I have heard no voice raised against this 
unchristian and indelicate custom. " Oh, we are used 
to it," was the constant reply to my remonstrances. 
And so may a man become used to any other atrocity, 
but habit is no apology for a thing which in itself is evil. 
I returned to Croy Lodge through the Bent Banks, 
being huge drifts of sand, favourable for the procrea- 
tion of rabbits. I did not, however, see many. The 
warren seems neglected, like everything else ; for there 
is no sale either for rabbits or their skins. During the 
war these warrens were very profitable. The skins 
alone sold at from 10s. to 14s. per dozen. As T cast 
back a parting glance upon this once celebrated domain, 
I could not help applauding the sagacity of Grace 
O'Malley in choosing this spot as one of her favourite 
residences. Every luxury of sea and land was within 
reach. Sea, shell, and fresh-water fish were in inexhaus- 
tible abundance, the neighbouring mountains afforded 
venison and grouse, the warren, rabbits, the lake many 
species of wild fowl, and the fertile meadows around 
the Castle fattened her sheep and beeves. In proof of 
which latter fact, I may mention that there is a fine 
plain skirting the Bay, on which I saw as I passed over it 



* The state of Ross Abbey, in the Earl of Leitrim's park, is detailed 
in these pages. 



188 THE SAXON IN IRELAND. Chap. XV. 

many sheep and cattle grazing, apparently in fine con- 
dition. As I approached the ferry the wind blew in 
wild gusts, and raised the sands on the shore, as if it 
had been mist or vapour. I was glad to find a convey- 
ance waiting for me on the other side, and soon bade 
adieu to the old Castle of Doona, and all its stirring 
recollections. 



189 



CHAP. XVI. 

PASS OF DUKELL. — TEKET SWEENY, FARM OF GLENDUFF. 

The time had now come when I was to meet Mr. S ■ 



at Mulrhany. I accordingly left the inn at the Sound 
of Achill, and again skirting the mountains of Currawn, 
soon found myself at the appointed place. It was at 
the spot where the Achill and Ballycroy roads join the 
main road to Newport Mayo, about ten miles distant 
from that town. Here is a kind of natural pass, easily 
defensible against an invading enemy. A wall built 
across would fortify the whole of the peninsula of Cur- 
rawn, for Clew Bay on one side, and a long arm of 
Tullaghan Bay on the other, almost cut it off from the 
mainland. Ordering the driver of my car to wait at the 
junction of the roads, I walked leisurely forwards, 
struck with admiration at the surrounding scenery. To 
the right, cliff upon cliff rose almost perpendicularly 
from the verge of the road, and in the various deep 
clefts grew a profusion of the Mediterranean heath so 
high that it was difficult for a man to push his way 
through. When this is in flower the perfume is deli- 
cious, and scents the whole pass with its fragrance. 
Here was another favourite haunt, my post-boy told me, 
for the wild deer before the " grand " road was made 
into Ballycroy, — " but you see, your honour, they're not 
fond of company, and the sight of the jaunting cars sent 



190 THE SAXON IN IEELAND. Chap. XVI. 

them all to the hills entirely." I was also informed 
that twenty couple of cocks had been bagged here in 
one morning by one gun. I noticed several groups of 
goats peering down upon me from the giddy edges of 
the cliffs, and many others quietly cropping the patches 
of green herbage in spots that one would have imagined 
quite inaccessible. To the left of the road, and divided 
from it only by a narrow strip of rocky land, was a 
beautiful inlet of the bay beyond, which, filling up the 
basin formed by the surrounding heights, spread below 
us clear and unruffled as a sea of glass. On a small 
rock at no great distance from the shore, three seals 
were sporting, and ever and anon the shrill whistle of 
the curlew skimming the waters, broke the silence that 
prevailed. A boat with a large angular-shaped sail was 
now slowly advancing with the tide, for her sail flapped 
heavily and uselessly, there being not a breath of wind 
to fill it. Still the craft gave animation to the scene. 
Soon afterwards a gentleman passed in a tartan jacket, 
with a servant leading his pony, and followed by four 
terriers " of the right sort," as the man told me while 
pausing near the rock against which I was reclining. 
His master, he said, was going to try the lakes for 
otters, of which there was great abundance. Thus, 
amusing myself with the still and the passing scene, I 
remained for nearly an hour, when the rattle of wheels 
descending the pass convinced me my new friend was 
not far distant. He soon came in view. His carriage 
was a strong-built, high-hung, double phaeton with large 
wheels, and was drawn by two powerful half-bred horses 
who stepped along at a very creditable pace. We tra- 
velled some miles through a dreary, though to me not 
uninteresting country, and then stopped at a farmer's 



Chap. XVI. TERRY SWEENY, 191 

house situated on a dry slope at the foot of the moun- 
tains, where we rested for two or three hours. This 
man, whose name was Sweeny, proved a good specimen 
of the Irish hill-farmer, and I was much interested during 
our stay in eliciting from him the particulars of his situ- 
ation. No easy matter by the by to elicit any thing 
from these men, which they wish to conceal ; they have 
a power of evasion wonderfully amusing too, if it were 
not sometimes provoking. They will steer their way on 
the narrow verge between truth and falsehood with sin- 
gular facility and adroitness, and I have seen a friend of 
mine obliged sometimes to lift his stick, and put on a 
fierce and determined look, before he could extract, even 
from sundry of his own tenants, a direct answer to the 
plainest question. The house of this Mr. Terry Sweeny 
was a long low building, snugly enough thatched, with 
sundry small square windows. A door of unplaned 
fir hung upon posts of rude bog oak by a single hinge, 
for the other was broken, and it was shut only at night- 
time. You first entered into a spacious room, with a 
chimney that was large enough below, but so small at 
the top as not to sutler one half of the smoke to escape, 
which therefore curled in dusky wreaths along the raft- 
ers, making its escape through windows or doors, or 
any aperture communicating with the light of day. The 
floor was of the thick, uneven, coarse flag-stone of the 
neighbourhood, with so many chinks and crevices as to 
defy the utmost efforts of an English housemaid, with 
her " brush and pail, or busy broom" to keep it decent. 
The room, however, had the advantage of being high 
overhead, and accordingly across the girders that tied 
the rude thick walls together, was thrown an accumu* 
lation of every implement, and every sort of stuff (I 



192 THE SAXON IN" IKELAND. Chap. XVI. 

have no other word for it) useful to the worthy in- 
mates, male or female, in time present or to come. 
Near the huge turf fire, and such turf too, quite equal 
to Wallsend or Hetton coals, matters were a trifle 
more tidy ; for here in the recess was the " calliough," 
or bed for the master and mistress, but at the further 
end of the room was a general repository for live and 
dead stock of all sorts. Into this corner dust and dirt 
of all kinds were carefully swept, the inmates seeming to 
have no idea that it would have been just as easy to sweep 
such refuse out of doors. Upon the left side of the 
fire was a small low door, which opened, I suppose, into 
a dormitory, but I did not penetrate into its mysteries. 
Here probably the sleeping was managed in the true 
primitive mode known as " sleeping in stradogue." The 
floor is covered with fresh rushes, and the whole family 
lie down " dacently," in a certain order, covered with 
their blankets. Terry Sweeny had a large family. The 
two elder boys were i( out on the mountain " (by which 
he meant the neighbouring bog) tending the cattle. 
Three girls, with their mother, were at home, as well as 
two fine little boys, with faces less smoke-dried than 
might have been expected. Ope of the daughters, about 
eighteen, assisted the mother in the hospitable prepara- 
tions for dinner ; the other two, squatting close to the 
ground in that peculiar attitude so common in Ireland, 
particularly among the very young or very aged, silently 
gazed at us as if we were beings dropped down from 
another planet. The long dark hair and bright black 
eyes of these young females betokened Milesian origin, 
and I could not fail remarking the physical differences 
in form, complexion, and features, between the mixed 
race of the Western districts, and the purer Celtic of 



Chap. XVI. TERRY SWEENY. 193 

the central and eastern counties. The elder sister was 
decidedly handsome. Her dress, indeed, was scanty ; 
but there was such an artlessness and blushing modesty 
about her, and something so deliberate and graceful in 
all her motions, that I could not help fancying her one 
of the dark-eyed maidens of Granada. Not one word 
of English could our hostess or her progeny speak ; and 
in truth, Sweeny himself jabbered so quick, and so ran 
his words into one another, that his English was almost 
Erse to me. The hospitable reception we met with in 
this lonely cabaret I shall not easily forget. There 
were, indeed, no delicacies, if we except a large dish of 
white trout taken that morning in a river some miles 
distant by one of the " boys," and not contemptibly 
prepared by the fair hands of Cathleen ; a large tray 
of " praties," boiled in their skins ; and a wooden bowl 
full of boiled eggs, some of which from their size were 
undoubtedly the production of a fine flock of geese 
which were gabbling outside at that instant. The feast 
was prefaced by a glass of something, not disagreeable, 
but very " warming," from a huge black bottle just dug 
up out of the garden # ; and after our repast was over, 
the punch was brewed, there being an ample supply, to 
my great surprise, of white sugar. " Is it the lemon 
you're looking at?" said Sweeny to me. " Sure it's mighty 
handy when the gentlefolks pass, seeing there's no inn 
in these quarters, to have a good glass of punch to offer 
them ; and what is punch without the lemon ? So when 
I go to Newport Pratt, or to Belmullet, or to Ballina, 
I always bring one or two of the yellow craturs in my 

* The natives think that the flavour of their favourite beverage is 
much improved by keeping it in the earth. 

K 



1 94 THE SAXON IN IEELAND. Chap. XVI. 

pocket." After thus refreshing ourselves I was anxious 
to inspect the premises, and to inform myself as to the 
mode in which Mr. Terry Sweeny conducted his farm. 
Adjoining the house, and surrounded by a high wall of 
large irregular stones, cemented and well splashed with 
lime, was the cattle yard. A slanting roof from nearly 
the top of this wall in the interior, formed a long range 
of sheds ; but the thatch was so thin, and in many places 
so much out of repair, as to let in the rain when it fell 
at all heavily. The yard was empty, with the exception 
only of a few goats, and the geese aforesaid, and some 
common-looking poultry. The manure was scattered 
about, and seemed to be thought little of. I was ac- 
companied in this survey by the owner, Terry Sweeny, 
whom I should have described before, as a " dark, frieze- 
coated, hoarse " man, who moreover was tall, and for 
his age extremely active. There was little to amuse or 
instruct in 'his arrangements; and though lovely sites 
abounded in the neighbourhood, there was no beauty in 
the locality he had chosen, for his dwelling stood close 
upon a deep red bog, through which sluggishly flowed 
a stream strongly impregnated with iron. He had eight 
milch cows, twenty-six heifers, thirty sheep and lambs, 
and a large flock of goats, all of which were fed upon 
the wild hills around. The man seemed, however, to 
thrive in spite of himself. It was manifest that Nature 
did every thing for him, and that he never exerted him- 
self beyond the supply of his immediate wants. His 
wife, a thin, intelligent-looking, delicate woman, seemed 
bowed down with anxiety and fatigue. They had all 
been down in the " faver," Sweeny said ; but it pleased 
the Almighty not to afflict him till the others were 
recovered, so that they had a chance of being looked 



Chap. XVI. IEISH HOSPITALITY. 195 

after. Though he lived many a long mile from his land- 
lord, " the blessing of God rest upon him," yet he sent 
them all they wanted, and more too, over the mountains ; 
and when the " faver was gone, and they all were left 
weak and sickly, my Lady sent them the port wine and 
the jelly, and so only three died among them all, God 
rest their souls." Much as it is the fashion to run down 
the landlords of Ireland, and to dilate upon their indiffer- 
ence to the sufferings of their poorer neighbours, I have 
heard of too many exceptions to allow this imputation 
to be made the rule. There is a great amount of social 
kindness, as well as hospitality, among high and low. 
But quiet benevolence is generally its own reward : it 
may be felt and appreciated by the objects, but it is too 
often unknown to the public ; whereas Rumour's brazen 
trumpet is sounded loud and clear wherever injury or 
injustice is inflicted. 

The sun was verging towards the west as we left 
Sweeny's farm, and we soon entered upon a wild ravine 
among the hills, and the road became a mere mountain 
track. On our left, a branch of the Owenduff River 
rushed along the valley, now circling in dark deep 
eddies, now throwing itself over some opposing ledge of 
rock, or spreading in a broad sparkling current over a 
smooth bed of sand and gravel. .Before us mountain 
rose above mountain, behind us the plains of Ballycroy 
and the far distant waters of the Atlantic were just 
visible. It required no small skill in the charioteer, 
and steadiness and strength in the horses, to win our 
way. Sometimes the track could only be distinguished 
by the faint marks of wheels on the turf; sometimes it 
dipped suddenly into some deep glen, and crossed the 
river at places so rough and so dangerous, as not to 

K 2 



196 THE SAXON IN IEELAND. Chap. XVI. 

deserve the name of fords. Still, every step was inter- 
esting and increased in beauty. The towering cliffs and 
vast boulders, which here and there almost filled the 
narrow pass, were covered with every description of 
lichen ; the boggy patches displayed many varieties of 
moss, and the gale, or bog myrtle in great profusion, 
filled the air with its fragrance. We thus travelled on 
slowly, very slowly, until sunset. Often had we to stop 
and allow the horses a moment's breathing time ; some- 
times we walked gently along, not caring to trust our- 
selves in the carriage, which occasionally performed 
extraordinary feats in the air. At length, at the north- 
eastern termination of a wide opening in the hills, on a 
verdant bank rising gently from a small lough, and 
backed by an eminence of moderate elevation, a house 
was visible. It was low, with a long plain stone co- 
loured front, and flanked on both sides by masses of 
evergreens and firs. " You now see our destination," 
said my friend, smiling. " I do not know which to ad- 
mire most, your nerve, or your patience, in venturing 
thus far : I only hope it will be in my power to reward 
your perseverance. In that spot I have now lived nearly 
fifteen years, and, humble and remote as it is, I prefer 
it to the proudest mansion that England could produce. 
I have there escaped the many miseries that are inse- 
parable from much admixture with the world, and the 
supposed inconveniences of my position I have scarcely 
felt." Skirting the southern shore of the lake, and 
rounding its eastern extremity, we drove rapidly along 
an excellent road to the house; and as we alighted, Mr. 

S shook me warmly by the hand, and welcomed 

me to " The Farm of Glenduff." 



197 






CHAP, XVII. 

THE S FAMILY. THE FARM THE WELL OF ST. 

KIARAN THE ECHO HUNTER. 

As the object of my correspondence is not so much to 
describe to you men and manners as simply to state 
facts practically interesting and useful, I will not enter 
into all the details of what proved to me a pleasant and 
improving visit. Suffice it to say, I found in Mrs. 
S a lady of refined manners and simple habits, de- 
voted to her duties as a wife and mother. She was 
always cheerful, never boisterous, and the arrangements 
of her household were conducted without any appear- 
ance of noise or bustle. The furniture was plain, but 
handsome and substantial ; the floors, laid with polished 
bog-wood, needed no carpets in summer ; and shining 
brass dogs, on which the black turf was piled, took the 
place of the more modern grate. In this, perhaps the 
remotest and wildest part of Ireland, all was English 
in arrangement and appearance. Cleanliness and plenty 
went hand in hand ; dirt and extravagance found no 
entrance there. One English and two Irish girls, under 
the immediate superintendence of their mistress, formed 
the in-door establishment ; and I was not a little pleased 
to notice that bare feet and bare legs were not tolerated. 
It was also delightful to observe the unaffected kindli- 
ness of manner, and the anxiety to render every little 

K 3 



198 THE SAXON IN IRELAND. Chap. XVII. 

possible service, that pervaded all the inmates of this 
house. Selfishness was unknown where the greatest 
pleasure of each was to oblige. I never felt so entirely 
convinced of the often disputed truth, that retirement is 
the best soil in which to foster and mature the kindlier 
qualities of our nature. Contact with the world call 
into activity passions which else had been dormant ; the 
universal selfishness around us teaches us to be selfish, 
suspicion engenders suspicion, wrong invites wrong, and 
vice allures to be vicious. 

The out-door establishment at Grlenduff was extensive. 

Mr. S gave all orders, and every thing about the 

farm was under his entire superintendence. But as he 
was obliged often to be absent at markets and attending 
sales, he had under him a young man of about five and 
twenty, whom he had taken from an orphan seminary 
when about ten years old, and since brought up in his 
own regular and business-like habits. To him was 
committed the carrying out of orders, and he had 
hitherto proved himself a devoted and faithful servant. 
He was every where, and in every thing ; his quick eye 
seemed to embrace every operation at a glance ; and he 
conducted the matters entrusted to him with such a 
quiet but cheerful zeal, that it was manifest his plea- 
sure was in his duties. Besides this man, whose name 
was Richard O'Malley, were a principal herdsman and 
shepherd, the former having two, the latter three lads 
under him. Two or three cottiers also resided up among 
the hills, and to them was entrusted the keeping of the 
herds and flocks within bounds, when the others were 
engaged in various duties nearer home. A ploughman, 
having a stout boy as assistant, lived adjoining the farm- 
yard, and his wife managed the dairy, with the excep- 



Chap. XVII. THE FARM OF GLENDTJFF. 199 

tion of two cows which were specially retained for the 
supply of the house, and which were under the charge 
of the English girl. The abovementioned Richard, 
the herdsman, and three of the boys, lived together in a 
commodious and well regulated building close to the 
house, and on Sundays and holidays they were admitted 
to dine there in a spacious room, which at other times was 
devoted to the general business of the establishment. 
Here was the hall of audience, and the great depository 
of rods, panniers, and tackle, with sundry guns and rifles, 
traps, and nets of every description. The morning after 
my arrival my host took me to inspect his farm-buildings. 
They were well planned, large, and substantial; consist- 
ing of two barns, ample cattle sheds well sheltered, a 
cow-house, on the English plan, and, what much pleased 
me, a considerable water-power, applied to every neces- 
sary operation of grinding, crushing, cutting, &c. This 
stream he had diverted from a hollow in the hill behind ; 
and taking its rise from a small lough, it never failed 
in the requisite quantity, though used plentifully both 
in the farm and house for all common purposes. After 
dinner, which was at two o'clock, I strolled down to the 
lake with a rod ; and Richard having selected a few flies 
for my use, I returned to tea with a very respectable 
show of trout in my pannier. A soft breeze blew from 
the west, and the ripple on the water was propitious. 
The largest trout weighed over two pounds and a half. 

In the evening Mrs. S- invited us to accompany her 

to the Well of Saint Kiaran, situated in a little glen on 
the south side of the lake ; and the children were to be 
of the party, with Richard in attendance. As we walked 
gently along I took my station by the side of Mrs. 
S , while her husband, obeying the impatient eager- 

K 4 



200 THE SAXON IN IRELAND. Chap. XVII. 

ness of the juniors, proceeded more rapidly in advance. 
" The happy trio before us," said I, " form all your 
family, I suppose ?" " Oh, no," she replied, " we have 
three other children. Our eldest daughter is in Eng- 
land with my friends, and our second son is at school 
near Dublin, preparatory to his entering Trinity Col- 
lege. He is a great loss both to his father and to me, 
but we thought it necessary that he should mingle a 
little with the world before settling down here. It was, 
however, far from his own wish." " And your eldest 
son ?" questioned I, doubtingly. " He has been a great 
cause of anxiety to us ; but we must not repine, the 
others are all so good and promising." A sudden ex- 
pression of pain passed for a moment over the gene- 
rally composed countenance of Mrs. S , and we 

walked on for some time in silence. And even so, I 
suppose, it must always be : 

" Medio de fonte leporum 
Surgit amari aliquid." 

Turning abruptly round the corner of a rock, we left 
the road, and followed the merry windings of a limpid 
stream, along the bottom of a glen, shut in by rocks 
and perpendicular banks. The path, sometimes ascend- 
ing, sometimes descending to the very margin of the 
brook, was overhung with hazels, willows, and hollies ; 
while here and there a tall mass of alders rose from 
some mossy and green patch, the shadows of its leaves 
and branches quivering oii the spreading surface of the 
water. The children, well acquainted with the place, 
hurried forward ; and already did we hear their voices 
above us, when, looking onwards, a cliff, exhibiting on 
its time-worn surface every variety of lichen, seemed to 



Chap. XVII. THE WELL OF ST. KIARAN. 201 

bar all further progress. Its surface was even, except- 
ing a few fissures, whence hung beautiful masses of fern, 
and in the recesses of which grew the lovely green and 
jinrped tufts of the Saxifraga umbrosa, or London pride. 
As we approached, the secret of egress became appa- 
rent. On the left the little stream, whose course we 
had followed hitherto, was seen tumbling down several 
smooth ledges - of rock, alongside of which an ascent 
was gained by a narrow flight of rude steps conducting 
us to a natural platform, where the rest of the party 
were now assembled, willing to enjoy my surprise. And 
surprised indeed I was, as well as delighted. Here, 
oozing clear and plentiful from beneath a large moss- 
covered stone, was the spring, that just when it seemed 
about to sparkle in the broad daylight fell into a small 
natural basin, and a few yards further precipitated itself, 
as before described, into the glen below. Beautiful 
mosses fringed its sides, among which rose several speci- 
mens of the delicate Lobelia Dortmanna, with its usual 
companion the Eriocaulon septangulare. The rock 
formed a commodious seat ; and beneath our feet was 
spread a carpet of the trailing arbutus, its bright red 
berries intermixed with the fine-leaved heath (Erica 
cinerea) and the feather moss, so abundant near the 
mountain springs and brooks. The basket of refresh- 
ments was produced, and a merry pic-nic indeed it 
was. Finer children I have seldom seen. The eldest 
boy present, Frank, is a manly strong-built fellow, about 
ten years of age. His countenance is free and open, 
and there is a good-tempered daring about him very 
attractive. He has a full flow of animal spirits, and is 
regarded with manifest admiration and deference by his 
sister, a fair blue-eyed Saxon maid between eight and 

K 5 



202 THE SAXON IN IRELAND. Chap. XVII. 

nine, whose large soft eyes, regular features, and luxu- 
riant hair, give the promise of maturer beauty. The 
youngest boy, Edwin, differed much from either, being 
in general of a quiet and sedate disposition. At present, 
however, all was exhilaration and enjoyment ; and as 
soon as they had done their part in clearing the basket 
of its contents, they carried it off, and, escorted by 
Richard, climbed the mountain in search of bilberries. 
Their departure afforded us an opportunity for conver- 
sation, though truly the contemplation of the scene 
itself was enough to fill the mind. Far below us, its 
surface still as glass, lay the little lough, here and there 
fringed with tall reeds or dipping willows. Beyond was 
the farm of Glenduff, with its mass of buildings, its 
plantations of evergreens, and the blue spiral smoke 
ascending from its chimneys against the bare face of the 
rocky hill behind. How peaceful it looked ! the well- 
fenced cultivated lands around it marking it as the 
abode of careful industry ; a conviction rendered yet 
more complete by the lowing of the cattle as they 
lazily ascended the green bank, and the wild gambols of 
the kids lingering behind the flock of goats who were 

now being driven to the fold. " And this, Mr. S ," 

said I, breaking the silence we had for some time main- 
tained, " this is all your own creation, and in the short 
period of fourteen years ?" " You may say in less than 
that period," replied my new friend. " It was several 
years after my taking possession of this wilderness be- 
fore I was enabled to do much. My capital was nearly 
exhausted in the purchase of the farm and the building 
of the house ; and you must be aware that both could 
now be accomplished at one third less at least than I 
then laid out upon them. In this respect the new set- 



Chap. XVII. THE ECHO HUNTER. 203 

tiers have much the advantage. The circumstance that 
brought me here, though it may provoke a smile, is 
worth relating : — I was at Ballina, on my way into 
Donegal, where it was my original intention to settle. 
In the evening of a sultry day I was sitting at the 
open window of the inn, when the melodious sounds 
of a bugle, playing a beautiful Irish air, attracted my 
attention. Nothing could be finer, and in the then state 
of my spirits more affecting ; but it soon ceased, and I sat 
motionless, full of those sad and melancholy feelings which 
such music will call forth. No long time had elapsed when 
a little dapper-looking gentleman, of middle age, entered 
the room, with a bugle in his hand. ( I have to thank 
you, sir, I presume,' said I, rising and bowing, i for the 
great treat I have just enjoyed? ' * You have to thank 
me for very little, sir,' replied he, carelessly ; * but if 
you are really fond of this kind of music, it may be in 
my power to give you some gratification. This instru- 
ment/ continued he, ( is all very well, but I seldom use 
it except to awake a finer music still.' I stared, for I 
did not at first quite comprehend him. ' Sir,' continued 
he, ' I use this bugle to awaken Dame Nature, whom 
you will find sleeping among the crags and cliffs. The 
moment I sound my bugle, an answer comes from the 
mountains, no less singular than it is beautiful, leaping 
from rock to rock, now loud, now murmuring, but al- 
ways sweet, till it dies away in echoes low and fine as 
the gentlest wailings of an infant." 

" ' Excuse my dulness,' said I, smiling ; f I under- 
stand you now ; you mean the echo.' 

" c Why yes/ he replied, * echo, according to the 
common language of the world ; I call them the voice 

K 6 



204 THE SAXON IN IRELAND. Chap. XVII. 

of awakened Nature. There is nothing in the theory of 
sound that can satisfactorily account to me for the won- 
derful voices my bugle has awakened in certain spots 
which I have discovered ; but I do not make them ge- 
nerally known, for — laugh if you will — I have a 
notion, which I like to encourage, that Nature loves 
solitude, and would ill brook the being disturbed by 
every common idler. I have travelled through and 
through Ireland, meeting with such echoes in many a 
sequestered nook, unnoticed by any one before me, and 
the result with me is this : — Donegal exceeds even 
Kerry in one particular spot — Kerry exceeds Clare — 
but Ballycroy, yes, sir, not twelve miles from hence — 
Ballycroy exceeds them all.' 

" By way of epilogue to this strange tirade, he put 
the bugle to his lips, and played rapidly, but in lower 
notes than I conceived the instrument capable of, a very 
lively Scotch air, in the style of Neil Gow, proving 
himself a perfect master of the art. 

" ' Well,' thought I, 'we are all slightly mad upon 
some points, or there is no truth in old saws, and my 
new friend is evidently not exempt from so general a 
law of nature. But he is evidently a man of talent and 
information, and it shall not be my fault if I do not 
profit by his acquaintance.' 

" Accordingly I drew him out to the utmost of my 
power, and was well rewarded. There was not any 
part of Ireland, Scotland, or Wales with which he was 
not familiar. He had visited Switzerland, too, but the 
mountains and valleys there, he said, were on too vast a 
scale for his purpose. In Merionethshire and Snow- 
donia, and other parts of North Wales, he had been 
very successful, as also in the western Highlands of 



Chap. XVII. THE ECHO HUNTER. 205 

Scotland ; but it was in the wilder districts of Con- 
naught and Munster that he most delighted. In Glen 
Inagh, not far from the head of Kylemore lake, at the 
foot of Mulrea mountain, near the Killeries on the 
western side of Croagh Patrick, and in Ballycroy, near 
the lake of Carreg-a-biniogh, and in a spot between 
Corselieve and Nephin Beg mountains, he had awakened, 
he said, responses that might almost be thought super- 
human : the valleys and cliffs seemed to start into life, 
and their voices were lifted up as if they were living 
things. ' But,' said he, lowering his voice, ' it were 
vain for you or any other mortal to attempt to find out 
these peculiar spots. I alone discovered them, and with 
me the knowledge of their existence will die. As no 
living man has the powers of invitation that I possess, so 
is it vain to expect from Nature a similar response. It 
cannot be.' I readily assented to this assertion, being, 
of course, quite convinced that the response of the echo 
must be more or less wonderful according to the skill of 
the musician. My companion was in all respects a gen- 
tleman, was a first-rate judge of the laws of harmony, 
knew the merits and demerits of all the principal com- 
posers and artists of the day, intermingled many in- 
teresting anecdotes with his disquisitions, and criticised 
with taste and learning. Ere we parted for the night, 
he invited me to accompany him on the following morn- 
ing on an excursion into the Ballycroy mountains ; and 
it was in this valley, not very far from the spot in which 
we are now sitting, that he gave me a specimen of his 
powers of e awakening the voice of Nature.' He placed 
me on a certain spot ; and exacting a promise that I 
would not follow him, he retired, and in about a quarter 
of an hour gave me such a treat in his peculiar art as 



206 THE SAXON" IN IRELAND. Chap. XVII. 

I can never forget. To describe it is impossible. No 
band of instrumental music in the world could equal it. 
The reverberations were perfectly astounding. The 
rocks and mountains seemed alive with the soul of har- 
mony ; the softest and wildest notes floated, on the air, 
now close, now distant ; now dying away in some dis- 
tant recess of the valley, now awakening louder and 
louder among the cliffs and precipices ; at one moment 
faint as the whisper of the breeze, at another loud, clear, 
and bold as the trumpet of the Archangel. But," con- 
tinued Mr. S , smiling, " I dare say by this time 

you think me as enthusiastic as my friend. Certainly I 
never before or since have experienced the sensations 
which at that time overpowered me, and I no longer 
either smiled or wondered at the zeal of my new ac- 
quaintance in his peculiar and eccentric pursuit. I never 
saw him afterwards but once, nor could I ever discover 
the exact spot from whence this astonishing echo could 
be produced. That it is within a quarter of a mile of 
this spot I am convinced ; and when I last caught sight 
of him, he was leaning pensively against the rock, round 
whose base we turn on entering the glen below us. Our 
greeting was short. He congratulated me upon my 
improvements, but declared significantly that l Art 
would drive out Nature.' ( This/ he said, ' is my 
last visit to this valley ; it was once a favourite spot of 
mine, but the presence of man has tainted it. In Cor- 
ranabinna I am safe from intrusion. There man will 
never pitch his tent ; it is too near the sky ; and let me 
tell you, sir, Nature speaks there in a language that 
even these rocks could never equal.' I could not pre- 
vail upon him to accept the rude hospitalities of my 
cottage, and after we had parted about ten minutes, a 









Chap. XVII. THE ECHO HUNTER. 207 

few discordant notes of his bugle awakened a thousand 
more discordant echoes, and I never saw him more ! At 
the time of my first visit here, this townland was on 
sale. It did not then possess one cultivated acre ; 
but I admired the seclusion, and saw the capabilities 
of the land. I purchased it, therefore, and have never 
repented my bargain. At first I had great difficulties 
to encounter from want of means, for at that period 
Government advanced no money for improvements. 
From no one did I receive aid or encouragement ; yet, 
with every thing thus against me, I have not only 
cleared my way, but, by the blessing of Providence, I 
have created a valuable property out of a wilderness, 
and can leave my children independent of the world." 

There was much in this story to afiect as well to 
encourage, and it was some time before any of us 
felt inclined to break silence. As I looked upon the 
lovely scene before me, the comfortable retreat, the 
cultivated lands around, the pastoral wealth, I felt a 
strong conviction of my own success in a similar ex- 
periment, and the rather as I should make the attempt 
under much more favourable auspices. 



208 



CHAP. XVIII. 

MODES OF RECLAMATION. ERRIS. — ADVANTAGES OF IRE- 
LAND OVER ENGLAND FOR THE AGRICULTURIST. 

As I have now resided for a week at the farm of Glen- 
duff, having been for the whole of that time the constant 
companion of my worthy host in his walks around the 
domain, and a quiet but eager observer of all his opera- 
tions, I can send you more positive data as to the means 
of ensuring success in an emigration to these parts. 
Every thing, indeed, I have hitherto seen is more than 
encouraging ; it points to certainty where there is pru- 
dence and some capital. Mr. S has now 140 acres of 

land under the plough. He has made it a point to re- 
claim for this special purpose ten acres every year. His 
operations, however, as regard pasture and meadow are 
on a far more extensive scale, but are conducted irre- 
gularly, the amount of reclamation depending upon the 
nature of the surface, the demand for stock, the state of 
the labour market, &c. &c. A mountain rising gently 
south-eastward from the valley, and about a mile from 
the house, is the scene of his present operations. The 
slopes at the base of this mountain and the flat of the 
valley below were all bog. Some portion has been 
successfully reclaimed, and the rest is in progress, but 
slowly now, in consequence of the great depreciation of 
prices. The operation is altogether simple, involving 



Chap. XVIII. MODES OF .RECLAMATION. 209 

no extraordinary application of engineering science. 
The bog being originally formed, and its increase pro- 
moted, by the oozing of the mountain springs above, 
the first step is to cut off this supply of moisture, and 
lay the lands below comparatively dry. This is done 
by means of a catchwater drain, which must be made 
at the upper side of the bog-field, on the edge just be- 
tween bog and mountain. The depth of this drain will 
of course depend on the soil, but it must be sunk, if 
possible, into the substratum, and so prepared that, if 
there be water sufficient, it may act as an intercepting 
drain for the purpose of irrigation. I observed that the 
effect of this one operation was almost immediate. The 
surface of the bog became generally firmer, and on the 
higher portion fresh grasses made their appearance. The 
next step is the division of such portion of the bog as is 
to be at once reclaimed, into ridges, at the distance of 
one or even two perches asunder according to the na- 
ture of the ground. Between each of these a small 
furrow must be taken out with the spade about a foot 
wide and a foot deep ; and, if necessary, water furrows 
of the same size may be occasionally cut obliquely across 
the ridges to assist the discharge of the surface-water. 
This done, wait one year at least. The surface of the 
bog will continue to increase in firmness, rendering the 
future operations more easy and practicable. It will 
now be necessary to lay out the fields. Some persons 

advise ten acres to each field, but Mr. S prefers five 

acres Irish, or even in some situations less. These are 
enclosed by two deep ditches, having a high, broad, 
compact bank betwixt, and these ditches act also as 
open main drains. Upon these banks, though I did not 
see the plan acted upon at Glen duff, cuttings of the 



210 THE SAXON IX IRELAND, Chap. XVIII. 

common sallow (S. caprea), or of the spreading willow 
(Salix aquatica), would thrive, and at once give shelter 
and ornament to the lands. As soon as the bog by 
these means becomes capable of bearing the pressure, 
the ridges should be dug up and formed, all inequalities 
levelled, and holes filled up. and on the firmer parts 
paths may be made and gravelled, so as to allow a horse 
to work, either in harrowing with the help of a long 
splinter bar, or in carrying the requisite dressing upon 
the land, whether it be clay-lime, sea manure, marl, 
shells, or coral sand. One very important process too 
I observed also : where manure is difficult to come at, it 
may be much increased in quality without deterioration 
in quality, by admixture a few weeks before with turf 
or other vegetable matter. As the pulverisation of the 
soil is the great object, potatoes as a first crop are de- 
cidedly best, supposing of course that the present dis- 
ease in that useful vegetable arises from mere temporary 
causes. The beds are formed across the intended ridges, 
the plants are earthed over with the stuff taken from 
the trenches, the manure being buried with the plant. 
Careful hoeing and subsequent digging out of the crop 
will have the best effect in reducing the vegetable tex- 
ture into mould, and in the following year the ridges 
may be permanently formed, drains made where wanted, 
the necessary top dressing applied, and the bog sown 
with oats or even wheat harrowed in by horses or men.* 

This was the general principle of Mr. S 's operations ; 

but they varied of course according to the nature of the 
soil and peculiarities of situation. On the western side 
of the lough, for instance, one tract of fifty Irish acres 

* Vide Fourth Report of the Commissioners on the Nature and 
Extent of the Bogs in Ireland. 



Chap. XVIII. MODES OF RECLAMATION. 211 

had been regularly drained. The springs were not from 
above, but in the bog itself; no catchwater drain, there- 
fore, was necessary. The first step was to open one large 
main eighteen feet across, sloping at about three inches 
to one foot to a bottom of two feet wide. This varied 
in depth from four feet to eight in order to give a fall, 
the ground there being flat. Into this main all the 
other drains emptied themselves, there being one drain 
to every two perches, or forty-two feet from drain to 
drain. This mode of draining costs on an average about 
thirty-three shillings per Irish acre. It may be as well 
to remark en passant that in round numbers fifty En- 
glish acres make thirty Irish. The ground where the 
above improvements were effected was one half sloping, 
the other flat. At present the drains have not been 
filled in, but are left open to settle and empty them- 
selves. Already there is no part on which there is any 
difficulty in walking, but the slope manifests a complete 
change. The coarser grasses, sedges, and weeds are 
disappearing, and without any manuring it is rapidly 
changing into really useful and valuable pasture. The 
lower portion, much of which is red bog, is not at pre- 
sent so promising, but as it is intended to reclaim this 
for arable land, it will next spring be pared and burned, 
then sown with rape, or manured with sea-weed for po- 
tatoes, afterwards well dressed with clay and manured, 
and sown with oats, clover to follow, then wheat. It is 

perfectly absurd, Mr. S says, to assert that red bog is 

incapable of remunerative cultivation. He showed me 
several fields on which good crops of barley, oats, turnips, 
and mangel were growing, and which had only been in 
cultivation about five years. Once reclaimed, these lands 
should never be neglected, continual working and fresh 






212 THE SAXON IN IRELAND. Chap. XVIII. 

dressings of clay or marl for a few years persisted in will 
make them productive, and will create a rich and per- 
manent soil. Indeed, it is a fact attested by the ex- 
perience of agriculturists of all times and all places, that 
vegetable matter once decomposed and reduced into 
mould produces the finest and most varied crops. Had 
these districts been similar in quality and surface to 
those we know in England under the general title of 
moorlands and wastes, it would be vain for the farmer 
to seek a profitable settlement here ; but the case is 
exactly the reverse. Wastes in England are generally 
sandy or gravelly soils, hungry and repulsive to vege- 
tation ; whereas in the w T est of Ireland most of the un- 
cultivated bogs and the alluvial soils on the banks of 
the rivers afford, by proper treatment in their reclama- 
tion, a source of certain profit. With regard to the 
farm of Glenduff, I have no hesitation in asserting, that 
the annual value, if let two years ago, would have equalled 
the price paid originally for the fee simple. All de- 
pends on the caution and judgment of the purchaser. 
There are large tracts of land in the west of Ireland 
which it would be absurd to purchase at any price ; for 
instance, those overspread with huge holders of granite, 
and those rocky plains where it would be difficult to 
find two or three acres in any one spot on which a 
plough could work; but, on the other hand, there are 
districts comprehending many thousands of acres, where 
every square yard has its value, and where lands may 
be purchased and farms rented for a price lower far than 
even colonial agents would ever dream of. * A great 

* In the wretched colony of Natal the settlers give 1/. 5s. per acre for 
their land, and in other distant settlements much more. Good reclaimable 
land may be had in the western districts of Ireland for less money. 



Chap. XVIIL EERIS. 213 

portion of western Mayo comes under this description, 
and I would above all others particularise Erris, which 
contains a most improvable superficies of many thou- 
sand acres. As a settlement, the west of Ireland pre- 
sents advantages unknown to other districts which 
ignorant men are running after and colonising. The 
expences of reclaiming land in any of our colonies are 
greater than in Ireland ; wages are higher, labourers 
scarcely to be had at any price ; houses are let at high 
rents, markets are uncertain, carriage of produce ex- 
pensive and difficult, morals are at a low ebb ; there is 
no security against the aborigines, a man's life and pro- 
perty being in continual jeopardy for years. Witness 
New Zealand, Northern Australia, and the settlements 
north of the Cape. Whereas in the northern districts 
of the west of Ireland offences against the law are rare ; 
the cowardly outrages of Tipperary are unknown, a 
numerous and hardy population wait to be employed, 
and regard the employer as their greatest benefactor. 
The roads are good, the harbours deep and well shel- 
tered, the country beautiful and fertile, and there is a 
ready market for stock and for every description of 
produce. " I have travelled over most of Europe," said 

Mr. S to me one evening as we took our accustomed 

walk, " and, with the exception perhaps of certain tracts 
in Spain, I have seen no land of promise equal to the 
one I inhabit. Indeed, taking the county of Mayo as 
a whole, I give it the preference to any other in the 
west." I shall soon have an opportunity of confirming 
or refuting these opinions, to a certain extent at least, 
for I intend visiting Sligo and Donegal. In the mean- 
while all I can say is, that Mr. S ■ is an intelligent and 

experienced farmer, and one to whose opinion I attach 



214 THE SAXON IN IRELAND. Chap. XVIII. 

the greatest weight ; but as he is exceedingly partial to 
his own locality, it is not impossible that this feeling 
may in a slight degree give its own colouring to his 
judgment. 

Wages are low in the west. The labourers are well 
satisfied with sixpence or eightpence per day in money ; 
but even this, till English capital was advanced for 
public works, was not always to be had. Mr. Alex- 
ander Nimmo, the engineer, was a most strenuous ad- 
vocate for this act of justice to the people. While the 
supplies lasted, each man had his wages in money, and 
when hard work was to be done, a proportionate price 
was paid. So said my host, who knew Mr, Nimmo well. 
The set prices of labour by job or measure are very 
moderate, and the work I saw was well done. The wide 
and deep main drains cost from Is. 3d. to Is. 6d. per 
perch of seven yards, stone drains 5d., pipe drains 3\d. 
per perch. A boat load of sea-weed for manure, say 
three tons, will be cut and loaded for 20d. The deep 
ditches and banks I have before mentioned are from 
Is. to Is. 4d. per perch. On the plains of Ballycroy 
two cargoes of lime, ten tons each, will cost 14s. ; and 
forty barrels of caustic lime may be procured out of one 
ton of the natural stone. The loss in burning is nearly 
fifty per cent. A common kiln holds about three tons, 
and this is broken and burned for 6s. On the red bog 
the caustic lime acts admirably in destroying the fibrous 
spongy particles, and reducing it into mould ; and where 
the predominating rock is mica-slate, its effects are truly 
wonderful. The detritus of this rock, as before re- 
marked, is generally fertile. It prevails altogether on 
the Nephin Mountains, on the northern portion of 
Currawn, on Achill, and the whole of the Ballycroy dis- 



Chap. XVIII. SEA CORAL AS A MANURE. 215 

trict, particularly on the banks of its numerous streams, 
washed down from the surrounding cliffs and slopes. 
On the shores of Blacksod Bay are inexhaustible banks 
of sea coral. Some of the proprietors have a kind of 
float from twenty to twenty-five tons burden, for the 
purpose of conveying this excellent manure into the in- 
terior by means of the creeks and estuaries that abound 
on this coast. Six men are required for the work, and 
most amply does it repay the labour. About three cart- 
loads are spread over an acre, and this dressing is found 
equally efficacious but more lasting than the caustic 

lime. Mr. S has a high opinion of the coral sand, and 

he lives in hopes that a species of cheap railway may be 
laid across the plain so as to bring up this manure as 
well as sea-weed into the mountain farms. It would 
much assist the lime, which with farm-yard manure is 
at present the only principal dressing they can procure. 
A firm road from Doona over the plain towards the foot 
of Nephin Beg, and through the mountain gorge of 
Maumaratta, to join the road recommended by Mr. It. 
Griffith from Newport to Belmullet through the valley 
of Shrahmore, would be of infinite importance to that 
fertile but hitherto neglected district. A branch also 
would be desirable from the Bridge of Bellaveeny, 
skirting the townlands of Bellagarvaun, Shrahduggane, 
and Lurrigandarreg, and meeting the Doona road near 
Scardaun. Thirty thousand acres at least of highly 
improvable land would thus be at once thrown into 
the market, offering as sure and profitable an invest- 
ment for capital and skill as can be found in Ireland. 
Peat-charcoal as a manure for turnips is rapidly coming 
into use, but I doubt whether with much success. It 
is greatly improved, however, by an admixture of 



216 THE SAXOX IN IKELAXD. Chap. XVIII. 

guano in the proportion of six bushels of guano to 
twenty-four bushels of ashes per acre. I saw some good 
turnips produced on the bog the third year of its re- 
clamation, by drilling in the seed upon this preparation. 
But one of the greatest advantages that Ireland pos- 
sesses is in its inexhaustible fields of fuel. Some of the 
turf is, in my opinion, almost equal to the best coal. In 
the district westward of Lough Corrib is a tract of deep 
bog unrivalled for its excellence. However poor the 
cottier may be, he can always provide a good fire for his 
family, though it is certainly to be wished that they 
were not so fond of the smoke. They seem, however, 
to delight in an atmosphere that would kill a Saxon in 
a week ; and I verily believe that many, who have chim- 
neys sufficiently capacious, purposely contract them at 
the top lest an undue proportion of this luxurious gas 
should escape. The cutting and preparing of this fuel 
is a source of considerable employment to the labouring 
poor. The price of cutting, spreading, and drying a 
portion twenty yards long, three feet wide and four 
turves deep, is 7d. } damping 6d. Fifty such portions, 
at ISd. each, will supply a family liberally for twelve 
months. 

Ireland is very moderately taxed, — not, however, that 
she could bear more than has been already put upon 
her : tithe, cess, and poor's-rates form the principal of 
the outgoings on land, exclusive of labour. The tithe, 
as far as I could judge from the inquiries I was enabled 
to make, is below the English average. The rate for 
the relief of the poor (a most merciful and necessary 
measure) has not generally in Mayo, I believe, exceeded 
5s. lOd. in the pound; but then the poor-law valuation 
is very much under the real value. Next year a de- 









Chap. XVIII. IRISH AGRICULTURAL ADVANTAGES. 217 

crease to 3s. is expected. Should English capital be 
brought in to any extent, the rates, I am convinced, 
would soon be the merest trine. Upon my English 
property the taxation, or rather the outgoings, are fear- 
ful : before I can look either for interest upon the 
capital employed, or profit from my exertions, I have 
nearly 12s. per acre to pay in outgoings of various 
kinds. These consist of fines and quit-rents to the 
lord of the manor, road-rates, church-rates, poor's- rates, 
county rates, land-tax, income and property tax, as- 
sessed taxes ; and, though last not least, from 5s. to 7s. 
per acre by the tithe composition, which, being calculated 
on averages, will for some years press most heavily upon 
the already overwhelmed agriculturist. Add to these 
the many calls upon private charity, the public sub- 
scriptions, which a man cannot put aside without odium, 
the relatively high scale of wages, which nevertheless 
ought not to be reduced, the continual wear and tear of 
implements, the long blacksmiths' bills, and the various 
perquisites to servants and labourers, which, allowed in 
more prosperous days, cannot now be discontinued with- 
out murmurs and dissatisfaction. From the greater 
portion of this ruinous pressure Ireland is free, while 
her labour is fifty per cent cheaper, and her soil equally^ 
if not more, fertile. 

" O fortunatos nimium, sua si bona norint, 
Agricolas ! " 



218 



CHAP. XIX. 

SITE OF A NEW CHURCH. — THE SOUND. — ACHILL. 

In nothing, perhaps, has Ireland more improved, during 
the last ten years, than in stock ; and indeed, consider- 
ing the extreme fertility of her pasture and meadow 
lands, it is only to be wondered at that she remained so 
backward in this respect for so many centuries. Those 
who have once seen the coarse, vulgar, gaunt animal 
called a pig, which Ireland used to send forth, will 
never forget it : the ridgy back, the flat sides, the long 
legs, the ears like those of an elephant, the head that of 
a crocodile : it was, in fact, the very personification of 
all that was hideous and disgusting. These are now 
rare, and, where found, are a disgrace to the owner. 
The Berkshire pure, or crossed with the Chinese, or 
other finer breeds, seem now the favourites ; but many 
others of the best kinds prevail : and I should say, 
travelling along the roads, and observing this stock, 
that Ireland is in no way inferior to England. 

The weather being delightful and apparently settled, 
I agreed to accompany my friend on another visit to 
Achill, whither he was going to examine some cattle, 
which had been offered for immediate sale. We pro- 
ceeded through Bangor to the Tullaghan ferry, after 
crossing which we threaded the wilds of Ballycroy, 
passing Shrahnamanragh and Lettra, the stations where 






Chap. XIX. IRISH AGRICULTURAL ADVANTAGES. 219 

Messrs. Davison and Amber are carrying on their ex- 
tensive improvements. I observed the crops on the 
newly-reclaimed lands to be looking well ; but the oats 
appeared to be ripening unevenly, some being ready for 
the sickle, while others were yet green. Looking back 
upon Shrahnamanragh, as we passed over the hill to the 
south, it was delightful and cheering to see the banks of 
the noble OwendufF river smiling with yellow corn, all 
ripe for the sickle, and to find lands which, a few years 
ago, were almost impassable wastes, now rendering a 
grateful return to the labour of man. As I looked upon 
this scene with the deepest interest, figuring to myself 
what a marvellous change ere long must pass over the 
whole of these extensive wilds, I could not help think- 
ing how much better money could be employed here, 
than in those absurd and lying speculations which have 
wrought such mischief to England, and reduced such 
multitudes of dupes to absolute ruin. Even in my own 
quiet neighbourhood I have witnessed too many in- 
stances of this mania ; and I much doubt if the country 
at large will recover from the effects of it in the present 
generation. We may hope, however, that the pecuniary 
abundance of the present hour will now find a better 
outlet ; and that while we are sending our accumulating 
hordes of wealth and the flower of our population to 
enrich other, and often antagonist lands, we shall not 
forget that there is a lovely island near us, blessed with 
every natural advantage, which now lies neglected, her 
hardy and patient population unemployed, her resources 
undeveloped, her poor thronging the workhouses, or 
dragging along a hopeless existence in hovels unfit for 
the lairs of wild beasts. Surely the policy, if not the 
philanthropy, of England will speedily remedy all this. 

L 2 



220 THE SAXON IN IRELAND. Chap. XIX. 

Ireland is a disgrace to us in the face of the whole 
world ; and though it were vain to deny that there are 
certain serious impediments to her social improvement, 
yet these might be removed by a wise and determined 
government. If private party views could only give way 
to a liberal and enlightened patriotism, so that those 
objects might be carried out which reason shows to be 
indispensable, Ireland would, in a few years, rank in 
prosperity, industry, and loyalty with the sister island. 
Often as I have had occasion to give utterance to these, 
or similar sentiments, I cannot help repeating them ; 
they are forced from me by all I see or hear at every 
moment of my progress, and there is, besides, this valid 
excuse, if I should appear to insist too long and too fre- 
quently upon the same topics ; the prejudices of Eng- 
lishmen are so rooted in regard to Ireland, that it 
requires no little iteration to obtain anything like a fair 
hearing : it is only by pointing out their errors over and 
over again that they can be induced to believe in the 
possibility of them, or indeed, that they can be per- 
suaded to exercise their judgment at all upon the 
matter ; they believe only because they have believed, 
the mind always clinging, with wonderful tenacity, to 
old opinions. 

Continuing our journey, we arrived at the site of a 
new church, which is about to be founded amid these . 
wilds, when we alighted from the carriage to examine 
the ground more closely. I have ever been accustomed 
to maintain how delightful it is to worship the Almighty 
Creator of the Universe in that house which has the 
blue firmament for its ceiling, and the everlasting hills 
for its walls. At this moment I felt all the truth of 
this idea. The scene was similar to the one I have de- 



Chap. XIX. SITE OF A NEW CHUKCH, 221 

scribed at Doona Castle, from which indeed, this spot is 
not far distant. Except where the Atlantic is opened 
to the westward over the lowlands of Doriell, the whole 
horizon is encircled by noble ranges of distant moun- 
tains. Nearer, gently undulating hills and vast un- 
cultivated plains fill up the picture ; and there is thrown 
over all a primitive wildness which, seems to indicate 
that this spot has undergone no changes, except those 
wrought by nature herself, since the time of the deluge. 
From hence I could command a view of the coast. The 
lands, that slope down from the interior towards the 
shores of Blacksod Bay, present every desirable agricul- 
tural feature. The vegetable accumulations are not deep ; 
the falls for draining are admirable ; many considerable 
patches of excellent pasture exhibit themselves wherever 
the land can discharge the surface water. In fact, I was 
so impressed with what I saw, that we walked over a 
considerable portion of it, and returned more and more 
surprised that such extensive and valuable tracts should 
still remain in a state of nature. On the sea-shore we 
observed large heaps of sea-weed thrown up by the 
tides, sufficient, indeed, to manure hundreds of acres, 
and it was evident, that but a small portion of in- 
telligence, with moderate labour, were required, to make 
these lands as productive as any in the county. Here 
was no speculation. The outlay would be small ; the 
return certain. Nature supplied the land and its ne- 
cessary appliances to boot ; and man was only required 
to put to use what Providence had so bounteously placed 
before him. These observations apply, in a greater or 
less degree, to the whole coast, stretching from Tul- 
laghan Bay to the Sound of Achill, and, perhaps, a few 
miles further south. The lands around Doona, and the 

L 3 



222 THE SAXON IN IRELAND. Chap. XIX. 

adjoining townland of Doriell, are principally a sandy 
loam, capable of bearing any crops, but requiring con- 
stant cleaning. I saw good flax, and also wheat; but 
the barley and oats were excellent ; and even at the 
present low prices, must prove remunerative. What 
these lands would produce under a good system of hus- 
bandry we may well conjecture ; not only is there 
abundance of sea- weed, but the coral-sand is found in 
considerable quantities among the rocks ; and as I have 
before remarked, lime is to be had at a low price.* We 
remained so long examining these lands that it became 
necessary for us to sleep at the Sound of Achill, and 
proceed to view the stock on the following day. It 
proved a pleasant excursion, though I had previously 
visited the island. The fact is, almost every day among 
these mountain regions produces variety of scenery ac- 
cording to the weather ; but whether it be cloud or 
sunshine, to my eye, it is always interesting, often ex- 
quisitely beautiful, and sometimes sublime. 

The cattle we went to inspect were on Croaghan 
Mountain, near to Keem. Mr. S. purchased thirty- 
eight of them, all fair stock and in good condition. 
Although this district is famed through Ireland for its 
superior mutton, yet we saw no sheep, and probably 
their numbers of late may have been much on the de- 
cline, in consequence of the inroads made upon them in 
the time of the late famine. During that inauspicious 

* Since these pages were written, much of this district has changed 
hands, and the prognostications of the author are on the eve of fulfilment. 
Many desirable farms, however, are still to be let in Upper Erris and 
Tyrawley, and that excellent landlord and enterprising proprietor, Mr. 

C , affords every facility and encouragement to those who settle on 

his extensive property. 



Chap. XIX. ACHILL. 223 

period, as before mentioned, the poor classes, driven 
well nigh to desperation by hunger, laid violent hands 
upon the sheep wherever they could find them. The 
following morning we drove to the Bridge of Balla- 
veeny, where, committing the carriage to the care of a 
servant, we determined to make the best of our way 
on foot to GlendufT, through the mountains. 



L 4 



224 



CHAP. XX. 






neglected capabilities. — irish waste land society. — 
mr. vernon's lodge. — pass of lurrtgane. — bivouac. 
ancient road. bog-trotting. 

So much had I been impressed with the capabilities of 
this district, the peculiarity of its scenery, and above 
all, by the excellent qualities of my new friend, that I 
determined to look out for a suitable settlement for 
myself in his neighbourhood. With this view, I pro- 
posed that we should traverse the mountains, and thus 
personally inspect their inmost recesses. Pursuing the 
course of the Owen-a-vrea river from the bridge, we soon 
attained an abrupt elevation in the midst of that vast 
plain which lies at the foot of the mountains, disclosing 
many thousand acres of improvable land, but now a 
cheerless waste. As we stood upon this eminence, the ca- 
pabilities of profitable improvement immediately before 
us struck us both, and I detail them as one instance, 
among too many, how this fine country is neglected and 
unappreciated. The river here divides itself into several 
small branches. The banks for a considerable distance 
on these were of a deep alluvial soil, producing rich na- 
tural grasses, and manifestly capable, by a mere trifling 
outlay, of being transformed into good meadow or 
arable lands. I should say, that immediately around 
the spot on which we stood, there were at least two 



Chap. XX. NEGLECTED CAPABILITIES. 225 

hundred acres of this description. We also noticed that 
the principal branch of the river possessed considerable 
mill power, there being a gradual fall of at least thirty 
feet, with an abundant supply of water, at all times, 
for the use of machinery, however extensive. The 
ground, too, was pleasingly undulated, and by planting 
the abrupt sides of the eminences, and converting the 
little plains into meadows, a most desirable and pro- 
fitable location would be at once created. And yet this 
spot — lovely even in its neglected state — presenting 
every requisite for a most flourishing settlement, and 
near, moreover, to a public road, is unappropriated, 
while thousands are crowding to the Antipodes at an 
immense expense of money, time, and toil, for the very 
inferior settlements they may acquire in those uninter- 
esting, and too often, profitless regions ! Proceeding 
along the plain, we found several situations where ex- 
cellent farms might be squared out, presenting many of 
the same favourable features with the former ; and we 
both agreed in thinking, that in the hands of even a 
moderate capitalist, this extensive district might be sub- 
divided into various holdings, so as to bring, with a 
moderate outlay, a large return in rental. The system 
of subdividing large tracts of land into very small farms, 
as propounded by the late Colonel Robinson, and also 
acted upon by him as agent for the Irish Waste Land 
Company, has, unfortunately, proved a failure; the class 
of men thus created, it is now evident, cannot bear up 
against bad seasons or unfavourable legislation. In- 
capable, from want of capital, of doing anything for 
themselves, the whole devolves upon the landlord ; he 
must build them " houses and out-buildings — find 
schools for their families — supplies of seeds and pro- 

i. 5 



226 THE SAXON IN IRELAND. Chap. XX. 

visions of good quality in periods of scarcity — mills at 
which to grind their corn and to dress their home-made 
woollens for clothing — timber for repairs — stores for 
securing their produce — piers for the protection of 
their vessels, if on the coast," * &c. &c. And what does 
he gain by all this ? Rents, if very low, may be received 
for a year or two, but the first reverse scatters the 
benefits of this outlay to the winds ; not only cannot 
rents be paid, but the poor people, so located, must be 
fed. Such has hitherto been the result of this system, 
which, however, we must, in justice say, was founded in 
the purest philanthropy, and might have been brought 
to a different result, had not the rents given for the land 
been absurdly high, and had not the potato visitation 
inflicted a blow which could not be expected, and 
therefore was not provided against. On the Glen- 
eask estate, belonging to the Irish Waste Land Com- 
pany, seventy tenants were thus located ; all seemed to 
be going on well ; but the potato blight came ; the Com- 
pany found themselves losers ; the tenants were utterly 
ruined ; the establishment was dissolved, and the ac- 
counts are now finally being wound up, after a large 
outlay in support of a system, thus proved, inapplicable 
to the present state of the country. It is well this ex- 
periment has been tried. Those who undertook it were 
real friends to Ireland, and if success had been possible, 
it would have attended their noble and devoted efforts. 
It was mid-day ere we arrived at the shooting lodge, 
at present occupied by Mr. Vernon, which is situated 
on a small plain, near the junction of the Owenduff 
river, with one of its tributary streams, and surrounded 

* See Practical Suggestions, by Colonel D. Robinson, 1846. 



Chap. XX. MR. VERNON'S LODGE. 227 

by magnificent mountains, which hitherto I had only 
seen at a distance. We paused on the summit of an 
abrupt bank, overhanging the smaller river, to contem- 
plate the scene before and around us. Here the glow- 
ing fancy of the artist, or the keen eye of the sports- 
man, would find a rich treat. Before us was the 
romantic pass of Lurrigane, running deep into the 
mountains, through which the Owenduff river was seen 
forcing its way, with many a bold sweep, and exhibiting 
ever and anon deep and placid pools, most tempting to 
the eye of the angler. On the right rose Cuscombe- 
curragh, from whose lofty top I had gazed upon these 
plains not long before, and half way up the mountain 
were seen those grand precipices which overhang the 
lovely and secluded lakes of Carreg-a-binniog and Cor- 
ralough, which I have previously described. To the 
left were the crags of Glore Slieve, and further east- 
ward the lofty Nephin Beg overhanging the wild vale 
and pastoral district of Maumarrattah. Behind us, to 
the westward, was the vast plain we had been traversing, 
bounded by the hills of Currawn, and the lofty cone of 
Slievemore. The Lodge, and the two rivers murmuring 
by, formed a lovely foreground, relieving the vastness 
and- solitariness of the scene. All around it was wild ; 
and though the little plain on which it stood abounded 
in sweet and luxurious herbage, and would, if enclosed, 
have formed a beautiful as well as profitable precinct, 
yet all was as nature formed it, and it was manifest 
that the rod and the gun alone occupied the thoughts of 
its occupants. — A great barking of dogs announced our 
approach to this mountain-abode. We entered, and 
though Mr. Vernon was out shooting, yet " Ye are 
kindly welcome ! " was duly said and acted upon by his 

L 6 



228 THE SAXON IN IRELAND. Chap. XX. 

servant. The Lodge is substantially built, and consists 
merely of three rooms, — a kitchen, a sitting-room, and 
a bed-room adjoining, with two beds. A third bed, also, 
occupies a snug corner in the sitting-room aforesaid. 
We sat down to rest and refresh ourselves, for long as 
our walk had been we had a longer before us. All 
around wore the signs of rural sports. Guns, fishing- 
rods, gaffs, panniers, landing-nets, and other implements, 
were in abundance ; instead of costly carpets, the floor 
was covered with the prepared skins of seals, badgers, 
and otters. In one corner, a handsome bitch, of the 
Scotch terrier breed, was suckling half a score of pups, 
whose early pugnacity gave earnest of future excellence. 
A fine old pointer, stretched at his length before the 
huge turf fire, completed the picture. A few news- 
papers, of somewhat ancient date, among them " Bell's 
Life," of course, and a dozen books of varied literature, 
occupied the window-shelf, on which also reposed a well 
used meerschaum. In every respect the spot was well 
chosen. The mountains were not so near as to impede 
the full glow of the sunshine ; the scenery was cheerful 
in its grandeur, the rivers and lakes close by afforded 
some of the finest angling in Ireland, and the surround- 
ing heathery slopes abounded with red grouse. Though 
little preserved, and plundered by eagles, hawks, and 
foxes, yet a good sportsman may easily bag his twenty 
brace in a morning's walk; in the immediate district 
surrounding the Lodge, the snipe-shooting is unrivalled ; 
and it is no unusual thing for one gun to bag ten to 
fifteen couple of woodcocks. Otter-hunting, too, may 
be had in perfection, as these animals abound not only 
in the rivers and brooks, but also in every lough (and 
there are many) of this district. We could occasionally 









Chap. XX. PASS OF LURRIGANE. 229 

make out their spraints or tracks as well as the rootings 
of the badger, as we walked their haunts. Leaving 
the Lodge, our road, or rather course, — for road or 
path there was none, — lay through the Pass of Lurrigane. 
The beautiful river along which we now rambled pre- 
sented the most inviting pools for the angler's skill; 
and could they relate their own history, would have 
many a strange tale to tell, both of success and failure. 
It is one thing to rise a salmon, and another to gaff 
him ; yet perhaps, after all, the very uncertainty of the 
sport is one of its most favourable features. At all 
events, this " gentle craft," as it has been well called, 
possesses charms of its own, though hardly enough to 
satisfy the spirits of the young and ardent ; it is quiet 
and contemplative, and is accompanied by the sweetest 
music upon earth, that of the flowing river. But above 
all, it has the advantage of affording amusement when 
age has disqualified us for rougher sports. 

As we advanced up the Pass, every step increased 
the wild beauty of the scenery. " Gorge, lug, and 
corrie " succeeded each other in endless variety ; many 
an eagle was seen soaring among his native cliffs, and 
many a grouse sprung almost from beneath our feet. 
The clouds in Ireland seem to me to produce more ex- 
quisite effects upon the landscape than elsewhere, either 
from its greater capability of receiving such impressions, 
or from some peculiarity in the atmosphere. As we 
paused for a few minutes on the summit of a rocky 
knoll, known as Lurrigane Castle, though I could find 
no remains of any walls or agger, this was peculiarly 
the case. Goreslieve was to our left, dark and gloomy ; 
the western slopes of Nephin Beg were radiant in the 
sun, while to our right the heights of Carreg-a-binniog 



230 THE SAXON IN IRELAND. Chap. XX. 

displayed the reflection of cloud coursing cloud along 
the rugged surface, and the deep hollows, in which re- 
posed the lakes, seemed black as midnight. Over the 
plain, behind us, a dark storm was sweeping along 
from the Atlantic, and, in the same direction, a perfect 
rainbow formed a noble arch from Benmore to Bella- 
veeny. It was now deemed prudent to hasten for shel- 
ter from the coming storm ; and we accordingly pushed 
forward, over most difficult and uneven ground, till we 
reached a small stream, which, having its source in the 
heights of Curranarty, far above us, leaped and danced 
gaily down the steep declivity, to join its tiny w r aters to 
the river below. Here under shelter of a rock, and 
reposing on beds of the^ thickest heather, mingled with 
moss and fern, we bivouacked for awhile, enjoying some 
well-seasoned Havannahs, and with modest sips of the 
" crather" diluted, not too much though, with 

" Water from the little brook, 
That o'er its flinty pavement sweetly sung." 

The storm soon passed over, and again from the breaks 
in the dark clouds the rays of the sun began to dart 
upon the plain, the mountain, and the lake, forming 
striking, and sometimes almost unearthly combinations 
of light and shade. Indeed, a more peculiar scene than 
the one now before us I have rarely if ever met with. 
Below us was a fine plain, hemmed in north and south 
by pastoral mountains of no great elevation. To the 
east and west the pass formed a wide break, so that the 
sun from "morn to dewy eve" had admittance within 
this favoured recess. The Owenduff and one of its 
most considerable tributaries watered this plain with 



Chap. XX. ANCIENT ROAD. 231 

their meanderings, the former descending from the 
mountains overhanging the distant valley of Shrahmore, 
and the latter visibly rushing down the precipitous sides 
of Nephin Beg, from the Lake of Scardaun. I could 
at the moment have fancied myself amid those lovely 
scenes of Asia Minor described by travellers. The eye 
of fancy speedily crowded this solitary plain with flocks 
and herds, perched on each rising knoll some quiet 
pastoral home, covered the rocky sides of the mountains 
with dark forests, or converted their sunny slopes into 
green pastures, or joyous fields of corn. 

We were in the district known as Maumarattah. 
The river we had hitherto so much admired, now 
dwindled to an insignificant brook ; but here were to be 
seen the gravelly bottoms on which the salmon love to 
spawn. A number of small lakes were scattered among 
the hills, and many a silvery thread-like streamlet 
might be seen stealing down the sides of the slopes, its 
course fringed with the brightest green. Here we 
gained an ancient road, which once connected Bangor 
and the northern parts of Erris with Newport, stretch- 
ing from the sides of Nephin Beg southward, through 
Shrahmore, and along Lough Feough and the Furnace 
Lake in Burrishoole. But it must have been, indeed, 
a sure-footed steed that could have safely picked its way 
among the loose rocks and deep holes of this ancient 
route. It never could have been intended for carriages 
of any kind, but was prooably one of those ancient 
tracks, known by the natives as the ballagh gorrue, 
bridle road. Nevertheless it is by far the best line to 
open out these valuable districts, and it reflects little 
credit upon the authorities of the county, that this 
internal communication should be so utterly neglected, 



232 THE SAXON IN IRELAND. Chap. XX. 

while all around scores of miles of useless road are 
passed and jobbed by interested parties. Indeed, 
throughout the whole of this highly available district, 
commencing with Bellaveeny, and ending in Shrahmore, 
a distance of ten miles at least, there is neither path nor 
yet road to be found, the one mentioned excepted ; and 
this must have been impassable for half a century at 
least. It is, however, impossible that this necessary 
work should be much longer overlooked or delayed. 

Bad as this ancient road was, we were not sorry to 
exchange the softer surface of the waste for its rugged, 
but more solid foundation. We had, indeed, already 
accomplished a great work, as those who may be induced 
to follow our footsteps will readily allow. Our course 
had generally been along the lower slopes of the moun- 
tains, which are soft and spongy in consequence of 
receiving the springs from, above. High tufts of matted 
grass and dwarf heath, called tussocks, overspread the 
surface, and the necessity, for considerable distances, of 
springing from one of these to another, gave full and 
unusual play to every muscle and sinew. To miss vour 
footing was, in general, no very agreeable matter. On 
one of these occasions, when I measured my length on 
the soft ground, " Wurra,"said our guide, looking back, 
" and is it there you are ? Och, murther," continued 
he, assisting me to rise, and to draw my left leg and arm 
out of a deep immersion in the bog, " sure, it's all black 
mud ye are. Oh, the blackguards o' the world, to think 
of the county cess, and no roads here, at all at all." My 
companions, however, did not escape scot free; for at 
the rapid pace at which we journeyed it was almost im- 
possible to avoid casualties. We pursued the old road 
for some distance, but left it at the point where, running 






Chap. XX. BOG-TROTTING. 233 

over the elbow of a mountain, it descends into the fine 
and fertile vale of Shrahmore. Our course then lay to 
the left ; and skirting the uninteresting shores of Lough 
Avoher, which lies embosomed in a vale under the 
craggy heights of Letterkeen, we passed the smaller 
Lough Gaul ; and thus, having well examined the beau- 
ties and capabilities of this terra incognita, we seriously 
set our faces towards the farm of Glenduff. It was late 
in the evening when we arrived there, but the hearty 
and affectionate greeting that awaited us, and all the 
comforts at hand that genuine and simple-hearted 
hospitality could devise, soon made us forget the fatigues 
we had undergone, and I retired to rest more than ever 
convinced that Ireland was yet destined to be great, 
prosperous, and happy, if her people ? under God's 
blessing, would only have it so. 



234 



CHAP. XXL 

COMMISSIONERS FOR IMPROVEMENT OF BOGS. — SIR H. DAVY'S 

LETTER. IRISH WASTE LAND COMPANY. — FARMERS' 

ESTATE SOCIETY. — PROSPECTS OF IRELAND. 

Your question as to what has hitherto been attempted 
in Ireland for the reclamation of waste lands, and the 
promotion of a good system of agriculture, is one which 
implies more research, and a more intimate acquaintance 
with localities than I can pretend to. From the com- 
mencement of the present century, many enlightened 
and patriotic individuals have endeavoured, both by ex- 
ample and precept, to show the way ; but the wretched 
system of middlemen and subletting, offered an insuper- 
able bar to all these private efforts. Often were the 
great capabilities of the sister country forced upon the 
attention of Government ; but it was not till the year 
1809 that Commissioners were appointed " to inquire 
into the nature and extent of the several bogs in Ire- 
land, and the practicability of draining and cultivating 
them." The names of these commissioners, as appended 
to their first Report, were as follows : — Charles Val- 
lancey, Richard Griffith, Henry Hamilton, J. Leslie 
Foster, William Gore. The entire expense of the es- 
tablishment was to amount to 2561. 17 s. 6d. per 
annum. These commissioners, on the commencement of 
business, found " that a portion of Ireland, of little more 



Chap. XXI. COMMISSIONERS FOR IMPROVING BOGS. 235 

than one fourth of its entire superficial extent, and in- 
cluded between a line drawn from Wicklow Head to 
Galway, and another drawn from Howth Head to Sligo, 
comprises within it about six sevenths of the bogs in the 
island, exclusive of mere mountain bogs, and bogs of less 
extent than 500 acres, in its form resembling a broad 
belt drawn across the centre of Ireland, with its narrowest 
end nearest to the capital, and gradually extending in 
breadth as it approaches to the Western Ocean." They 
then divided all the bogs containing above 500 acres, in 
the counties of Kildare, King's County, Tipperary, 
Westmeath, and Longford, into seven districts ; which 
Were severally apportioned to the following engineers, 
who were desired to report thereon : — viz. Mr. Brass- 
ington, Mr. Edgeworth, Mr. Jones, Mr. R. Griffith, 
Mr. Aker, Mr. Longfield, and Mr. Townsend. The 
Reports of the Commissioners, founded on the informa- 
tion thus attained, as well as the separate Reports of the 
engineers themselves, were printed by order of the House 
of Commons. To any one interested in so vast a subject 
as the reclamation of one fourth of a large island from a 
state of mere waste and moor to a state of productive 
usefulness, beneficial equally to the owner and to the 
state, the perusal of these documents will afford un- 
mingled gratification. It is therein as plainly laid down 
as it is incontestably proved, that bog land not only can 
be reclaimed at a small comparative cost, but that when 
properly treated it forms the richest of soils, and will 
maintain any description of produce suitable to the 
climate. " In comparing," say the Commissioners in 
their second Report, " the reports of our engineers with 
each other, we find, as might be expected, considerable 
difference of opinion as to the most eligible modes of 



236 THE SAXON IN IRELAND. Chap. XXL 

draining these bogs, and of reducing them to a state of 
cultivation. They all however agree, not merely as to the 
perfect practicability in every instance of reclaiming 
them, but also that the measure would be attended with a 
very great degree of profit." I am not aware to what 
extent the Government acted upon the information thus 
obtained; certainly no extended system of operations 
was commenced, and it now remains for individuals to 
take advantage of the valuable suggestions thus pro- 
minently laid before them. My own observations and 
inquiries have fully borne out the statements made in 
those interesting reports, and in perusing them I was 
much pleased to discover a letter from that great autho- 
rity Sir Humphry Davy to the Commissioners ; and as 
I am not aware that it exists in any other work, I will 
transcribe his opinion, as one strongly corroborative of 
my own views upon the subject. 

Copy. — Appendix to Second Report, No. 9. 

« February I. 1811. 

" Sir, — As the Commissioners for considering the 
practicability of draining the bogs of Ireland have done 
me the honour of requesting my opinion on the im- 
portant national object to which their attention is 
directed, I shall without apology beg leave to communi- 
cate to them, through your means, such observations as 
I have been able to make on the subject. Bogs, in 
general, are known to consist of inert vegetable matter, 
covered more or less with unproductive vegetables, and 
containing a large quantity of stagnant water. There 
are two causes why they are unfitted for cultivation. 



Chap. XXI. SIR H. DAVY'S LETTER. 237 

One is the existence of stagnant moisture ; the other is 
the excess of inert vegetable matter. There is but one 
mode of removing the stagnant water, which belongs to 
the practical engineer, and that is by drainage. The 
different modes of effecting this have been so ably dis- 
cussed in the Reports before the Commissioners, and 
which they were pleased to request me to peruse, that it 
would be presumptuous in me to offer any observations 
upon this part of the inquiry. The mode of removing 
the excess of inert vegetable matter, and of rendering 
it useful, is a subject which more immediately comes 
within the province of chemistry ; and on this I shall 
venture to offer some suggestions. Bogs differ very 
much in their composition. In general, 100 parts of 
dry peat contain from 60 to 99 parts of matter destruc- 
tible by fire ; and the residuum consists of earths, 
usually of the same kind as the substratum of clay, 
marl, gravel, or rock on which they are found, and 
oxide of iron. Burning furnishes a simple mode of 
destroying the inert vegetable matter, and where the 
peat contains much earthy matter, tends to supply that 
which is necessary in every fertile soil, a due proportion 
of the earths. From the analysis of Mr. Griffiths, of 
several specimens of a particular bog, it appears, how- 
ever, that this practice will not be universally applica- 
ble: for he found 1440 parts of several specimens of 
peat affording only from 12 to 50 parts of ashes ; the 
proportions being greatest in the lower strata. In cases 
where lime can be applied to the surface of bogs, there 
can be no doubt of its beneficial efficacy. If used in its 
state of quicklime, it not only destroys excess of vege- 
table matter, but forms a compost extremely favourable 
to the vegetation of esculent plants. The peat hills of 



238 THE SAXON IN IRELAND. Chap. XXI. 

Derbyshire have many of them been rapidly brought 
into cultivation, by merely draining and scattering lime 
over the surface ; and treated in this way they admit, I 
believe, of being ploughed up the second year, and sown 
with oats, or planted with potatoes. Any kind of soil 
will improve peat. Sand, clay, or marl, must be all 
beneficial, because a great object is to increase the 
quantity of earth in proportion to the vegetable matter. 
If a peat is of a black colour, soft consistence, and con- 
tains living vegetables at the surface, it will probably be 
easy of improvement by liming, or the application of the 
earths. If it is an inert red peat, containing little de- 
composing vegetable matter, and having only moss at its 
surface, there is reason to conceive that attempts at im- 
provement should be preceded by burning the surface. To 
render bogs arable lands capable of bearing white crops, 
there must be a certain quantity of earth added to the 
vegetable matter, or a certain quantity of vegetable matter 
destroyed ; but it appears probable that many bogs may 
be made into good pasture by draining, and sowing in- 
digenous or foreign grasses, particularly if irrigation can 
be employed. In England, this practice has been par- 
ticularly successful. At Priestley, near Woburn, and at 
Castle Acre, there are meadows which have been rapidly 
reclaimed from bog, and which produce luxuriant and 
excellent crops of grass in consequence of irrigation. 
The Commissioners will appreciate the value and im- 
portance of my excellent friend Dr. Richardson's ideas 
on the improvement of bogs, by cultivating on them the 
indigenous Irish grasses. From a comparison of the 
able reports of Messrs. Edgeworth and Griffiths, it 
appears evident that very different plans of cultivation 
must be adopted in different cases. The chemical com- 



Chap. XXI, SIR H. DAVY'S LETTER. 239 

position of bogs, and the ashes they afford, differ ex- 
ceedingly ; as I have found in various experiments upon 
specimens of peat from different districts. The peat of 
the chalk counties of England contains much gypsum ; 
but I have found very little in any specimens from Ire- 
land or Scotland ; and, in general, these peats contain 
very little saline matter. There are peculiar advantages, 
which will strike every one, in judging of the practica- 
bility of improving most of the great bogs in Ireland ; 
the quantity of limestone and limestone gravel in the 
neighbouring districts, and the marl or clay which in so 
many cases forms the substratum of the bog. If the 
draining can be easily effected, if the upper stratum can 
by mechanical means be freed from its excess of water, 
there is no doubt that its cultivation might be rapidly 
effected. A few experiments upon the modes of im- 
proving these bogs, most unlike each other, would be, 
perhaps, the best preliminary step for laying the found- 
ation for the great national undertaking. This would 
probably lead to particular plans for each particular 
district, which would be directed by a minute knowledge 
of the local circumstances, and by chemical analysis 
pointing out the particular nature of the peat, A soil 
covered with peat is a soil not only covered with fuel, 
but likewise with manure. It is the excess of manure 
only which is detrimental, and it is much more easy to 
destroy it than to create it. To cultivate a bog is a 
much less difficult task than to improve a sand. If 
there is a proper level to admit of draining, the larger 
the scale of operation, the less must the comparative 
expense be, because machinery may for many purposes 
take the place of manual labour, and the trials that have 
been already made by private individuals, and which are 



240 THE SAXON IN IKELAND. Chap. XXI. 

stated in the different Reports, prove not only the 
feasibility of the general project, but afford strong 
grounds to believe, that any capital expended upon it, 
after mature and well digested plans, would in a very 
few years afford a great and increasing interest, and 
would contribute to the wealth, prosperity, and popula- 
tion of the island. 

M I have the honour to be, &c. &c, 

" H. Davy." 

Though the recommendations of the Commissioners 
had no effect in engaging Government in any grand 
national scheme of reclamation, yet the statements 
advanced by them, and the striking facts and calcula- 
tions which they brought before the public, caused much 
individual exertion in that direction ; and had it not 
been for the defective nature of Irish tenures, and the 
state of the law as affected property, the reclamation of 
waste lands would have made great progress : nearly half 
a century has thus been lost to the country ; but now 
that the public mind is awake to Irish abuses, and the 
Government are fairly putting their shoulders to the 
wheel, it is to be hoped that the hitherto crushed ener- 
gies of the country will arise and triumph over every 
obstacle. At various times companies of intelligent 
men, conscious of the advantages within their grasp, 
and anxious to show the way in the noble race of im- 
provement, have combined together, and if encouraged, 
were willing to exhibit on a large scale what could be 
done. The same causes, however, which checked indi- 
vidual enterprise, damped their energies also ; and it was 
not till the " Irish "Waste Land Improvement Society," 
was instituted under the sanction and encouragement of 



Chap. XXI. IRISH WASTE LAND SOCIETY. 241 

that true friend to Ireland, the Earl of Devon, that any 
serious step was taken to effect any great moral change 
in the condition of the people. "We are informed by 
their Managing Director, Colonel Robinson, in his Re- 
port, dated 1843, that the purpose for which the Society 
was formed " was to construct works of a general cha- 
racter, such as roads, bridges, main drains, boundary 
fences, and such other works as are beyond the scope of 
the capital or skill of the tenantry, and by the facilities 
which they would afford to let or reclaim lands not 
otherwise available, securing simultaneously with those 
objects an adequate return for the Society's outlay." 
The education of the tenants and their families ; the 
encouragement of temperance, industry, and cleanli- 
ness, the putting down " the injurious practice of sub- 
letting," and the discouragement of indiscriminate emi- 
gration, were also praiseworthy objects of this truly 
patriotic society. The advantages offered to tenants 
settling on the Company's lands were as follow : — " Mo- 
derate rents during the first years of occupancy. The 
example and instruction given to tenants by the stewards 
and model farms. Loans of timber and lime to enable 
the tenants to build their own cottages. Loans of seed, 
oats, potatoes, grass, and turnip seed, and wheat in 
the spring. Allowances and encouragements given for 
reclamation. Assistance in the construction of fences. 
Steady employment with fair wages throughout periods 
of agricultural distress. Leniency to tenants. Encour- 
agement given to moral and religious conduct," &c. &c. 
With what results the Society prosecuted their scheme 
at first may be gathered from the following abstract from 
the Statistical Return up to Feb. 1846. Their principal 

M 



242 



THE SAXON TN IRELAND. 



Chap. XXI. 



estates were Ballinakil, Gleneaske, and Kilkerrin, all 
in the west, the latter being in Connemara. 

PROGRESSIVE RENTS OF LANDS LET. 



Estate. 


1838. 


1843. 


1844. 


1845. 


1846. 




£. 


£. 


£. 


£. 


£. 


Ballinakil - 


jj 


70 


137 


167 


200 


Gleneaske - 


41 


309 


448 


508 


598 


Kilkerria 


500 


527 


687 


780 


821 



All seemed promising ; everything was done to pro- 
mote the welfare of the tenants ; even some promise of 
remuneration for their investment seemed to dawn upon 
the proprietors, when the potato blight came. The 
directors nobly did their duty ; they supplied the imme- 
diate wants of the poor tenants located on their lands; 
they advised ; they encouraged them. {i Hopes were 
entertained," says Colonel Robinson, in his fifth An- 
nual Report, ct from the long continued efforts made to 
introduce rotation systems of husbandry, that the te- 
nants would be induced to place less reliance on potatoes, 
and cultivate other crops, and no exertions were spared 
to attain so desirable an end. To further this object I 
visited the estates in April, and associating freely with 
the tenants, tried every thing that the greatest anxiety 
and the most fostering care of their's and the Society's 
welfare could suggest, to persuade them from the ex- 
tensive growth of the potato. But so great was the 
partiality of the Connaught peasant for the potato, so 
well was its easy mode of cultivation suited to his habits, 
that all these exertions and labours had but a very 



Chap. XXI. FARMERS' ESTATE SOCIETY. 243 

limited success ; the new tenants clung to their beaten 
track, and grew little besides potatoes," &c. This Re- 
port was submitted to the Society in Feb. 1847, not 
long after which Colonel Robinson died. The estates 
got into comparative disorder; the outlay increased, 
while the rents diminished, so that it was finally resolved 
to wind up affairs by relinquishing the leases and dis- 
solving the company. From my own knowledge of the 
position of the Society's estates I should not say that 
they were judiciously chosen ; but I have been informed 
by their intelligent and worthy secretary, Mr. Fry, 
that there was great difficulty at the period of the for- 
mation of the Society in procuring lands at all ; and 
certainly such must be the fact, judging from the very 
exorbitant rents they appear to have paid for them. 
The winding up of this Society is a great misfortune to 
the country generally ; but does it not prove the inex- 
pediency of farming on a small scale, as Ireland is at 
present situated ? Such men as tenants cannot stand 
the storm ; ^proprietors they would have a much better 
chance. What Ireland really requires is an infusion of 
yeomen tilling their own land, and relying on their own 
resources. This belief so strongly possessed the minds 
of many of the best friends of Ireland that a Bill has 
been introduced into Parliament for the formation of a 
Company (or Companies), under the name of " Far- 
mers' Estate Society." By this bill parties were em- 
powered to purchase lands in fee ; to subdivide and 
resell them to those who could not afford to purchase 
largely. The minimum of land sold was to be forty 
acres, and provisions were introduced to prevent the 
further subdivision of the lands by the said purchasers. 
The plan is good from its very simplicity, but I do not 

M 2 



244 THE SAXON IN IKELAND. Chap. XXI. 

learn that anything has hitherto been accomplished by 
the Company. Some of the provisions appear to me to 
render it inoperative. Such, for instance, as that limit- 
ing the powers of the Act to twenty-one years ; again, 
another compelling the Society to resell any estate they 
may purchase in the short period of seven years. Notice 
has, however, been given of applying to Parliament for 
an amendment of the Act, and in all probability this 
"useful and highly remunerative association will be in 
full operation ere the close of the present year. " I 
believe," said Lord Devon, in "giving evidence before 
the Committee of the House of Commons, st that this 
mode of sale (in small lots) is almost indispensable under 
the present circumstances of Ireland. However strong 
the opinion may be, that agricultural improvement 
would be best promoted by having large farms, and 
much capital applied to the cultivation of land, although 
I admit it is a consummation devoutly to be wished, yet 
I believe that it is a state of things incapable of being 
attained at a very early period, and I also believe that 
the enjoyment of moderate sized holdings by persons 
as proprietors, is the only mode to which we can now 
look for the agricultural and social improvement of the 
people." Mr. Gr. A. Hamilton, M. P., in giving his 
evidence, also makes the following remark : — "I think 
practically in Ireland, the occupying farmer (land- 
holder?) from twenty to a hundred acres is the most 
industrious and useful class of farmers we have." Mr. 
Jeffers, an eminent Dublin solicitor, in giving evidence 
in favour of the bill, says, " It is a matter of personal 
knowledge to me, that farmers in Ireland who are not 
supposed by their neighbours to have any money, have 
very large sums in banks, and generally lend to neigh- 






Chap. XXI. FARMERS' ESTATE SOCIETY. 245 

bouring proprietors on their bonds." " Such men will 
doubtless avail themselves very largely of such an Act 
as this." Again, Mr. Jeffers says, " There has been a 
very extraordinary increase of capital in Ireland if we 
are to judge from this fact — the surplus stock trans- 
ferred from Ireland to England from 1838 to 1848 was 
13,945,742/., while the stock transferred from England 
to Ireland was 6,193,000/., making a difference in fa- 
vour of Ireland of 7,751,000/. ! !" The date of this 
examination of evidence on the bill was July 19th, 
1848. Thus then the power and the inclination to pur- 
chase land by the natives themselves is proved by the 
best evidence, and one cannot help being surprised that 
the " Farmers' Estate Society" has not yet been able to 
commence operations, and I can only account for it 
from the existence of the clauses in the Act above al- 
luded to, and the inveterate and injurious prejudice of 
the English against any thing in the shape of an Irish 
investment. In the present case, the prejudice is most 
unpatriotic and injurious to their own best interests ? 
The small sub-divisions of land which have caused so 
much misery and moral degradation in Ireland are on 
all hands condemned, and better were it that the pre- 
sent race of occupants should emigrate and leave the 
whole country to be re-colonised, than that such a scan- 
dalous and demoralising system should be continued. In 
some countries the subletting of lands is restrained by 
law as inconsistent with the social welfare of the coun- 
try ; thus in Austria * no property is allowed to be less 
than sixty-six acres, and in Bavaria and Nassau there 
are similar provisions. It was also attempted at the 

* Vide evidence of W. Monsell, Esq., before Committee. 
m 3 



246 THE SAXON IN IRELAND. Chap. XXL 

first meeting in the Rhenish provinces by the govern- 
ment of Prussia to introduce some measure of the sort. 
At the time it was not assented to, but whether now 
passed or not I am not informed. One excellent pro- 
vision of " the Farmers' Estate Society," is, that they 
allow the purchase money of the farms sold to be paid 
by instalments. " The purchaser can thus expend 
most of the capital he possesses in the cultivation of the 
land, erecting buildings, and making other improve- 
ments, and as he improves he will be the better enabled 
to pay larger instalments until the purchase shall be 
completed, and final possession given. A system ma- 
terially different from the present, under which, the 
farmer generally gives all he possesses to get possession 
of a farm, and has no capital left for cultivation or 
stock. * It is cheering to observe such efforts in the 
right direction, for if the intentions of the projectors 
are not carried out, at any rate it is evident that the 
eyes of the public are opened to the vast capabilities of 
the country, and that even private enterprise will not 
long be wanting to develope them. Not only the un- 
cultivated lands have thus been brought prominently 
before the public, but the inexhaustible sources of profit 
in the mountains and seas of this island have also re- 
ceived their share of attention. A Society is now esta- 
blishing under the denomination of the " Great Fisheries 
of Ireland Company," the object of which is to appro- 
priate for the sustenance of the people those vast stores 
of wholesome and luxurious food with which the western 
coasts are known to abound, but which from the po- 
verty of the people have as yet been deplorably neglect- 

* Vide Prospectus. 



Chap. XXI. PROSPECTS Or IRELAND. 247 

ed. Mr. Nimmo gives the following account of the 
principal fishing station off the coast of Erris : — 
" Northeast of the Staggs, about six miles, in fifty fa- 
thom water, is the ( Yellow Bank.' It extends from 
Glenisk hill in Erris, one fourth of the way across the 
Arran ; it abounds with cod and skate, or maiden ray. 
The whole north shore of Mayo is excellent fishing 
ground in harvest, but it cannot be pursued in sailing 
boats, as there are no ports to save them. Off Erris 
Head, when you open Glenlara E. N. E. about five miles, 
is an excellent ling bank in thirty-five or thirty-six fa- 
thoms. Small cod also abound in the entrance of Bel- 
haven. The sea off the west of Erris abounds in fish, 
being by far the most productive on the Irish coast, and 
it is regularly visited by decked wherries from Skerries, 
Rush, &c, from the east coast, and by hookers from 
Kinsale, and the south. These vessels being able to 
stand the heavy sea of the Atlantic can run to the fish- 
ing bank in the offing, and, of course, can succeed better 
than the ordinary boats. The Kinsale hookers bring 
mackerel nets, which they employ at night near the 
Bills Rock, and they are used with good success about 
Clew Bay. The principal white fish bank is between 
Bofin and Achill, about two and a half leagues north of 
the former, and three from Achill Head. It is abun- 
dantly supplied with all kinds of fish, cod, ling, glassin, 
mackerel, and gurnet, and a few herring. North of 
Achill Head, we have a sand track running up Blacksod 
Bay affording turbot and flat fish. At the Black Rock, 
is rough ground, but beyond that lies the Iniskealing 
Bank, extending from five to eight leagues to the west 
of the^j islands, abundantly stocked with fish. The 
Sun Fish Bank lies within sight of land of Achill, 

M 4 



248 THE SAXON IN IRELAND. Chap. XXI. 

Slievemore bearing E. S.E. by compass, seventy to ninety 
fathoms. The sea breaks on it in ebb and flood. A 
sun fish has seven to ten barrels of liver worth 40£. 
There are besides these out-sea fishings, the salmon fish- 
ings of Goulamore and Ballycroy, and one in Glena- 
moy. Immense beds of oysters of the finest and largest 
kind are found in Blacksod and Broadhaven." This 
account speaks for itself, and when we look around us 
and view the vast resources of these districts both on 
land and in the sea, is it too much to prognosticate that 
such advantages cannot long remain neglected, lying as 
they now do but a few hours' journey from the British 
metropolis ? The same observations may be made with 
regard to the minerals of Ireland. The treasures con- 
tained in her mountains are as yet little known, because 
they have been little sought after. A Company has, 
however, been formed, " The Shannon Coal and Mining 
Company," the views of which, if carried out, will be 
of vast importance, and contribute largely to the pros- 
perity of the country. " This company has been formed 
for the purpose of opening and working colleries and 
coal mines underlying extensive properties contiguous 
to the river Shannon, in the counties of Kerry and 
Clare, in the province of Munster. The coal of this 
district is anthracite, or non-flaming coal of excellent 
quality, and can be easily and cheaply wrought. The 
concessions also embrace copper, lead, and iron mines, 
with other metals and minerals, which are found in 
abundance throughout them, especially in Kerry, which 
has been called the Cornwall of Ireland. In addition 
to these concessions, the company has acquired the right, 
upon very favourable terms, of working mines and mi- 
nerals on the line of the Upper Shannon, in the culti- 



Chap. XXI. PROSPECTS OF IRELAND. 249 

vated district of Slieva-eneran, county of Leitrim, and 
province of Connaught. The mineral ground, compris- 
ing upwards of 25,000 acres, abounds with, bituminous 
coal of a superior quality, adapted for household, manu- 
facturing, and coking purposes ; porcelain, potters' and 
fire clay ; and with limestone well fitted for agricultural 
uses." The completion of that vast and useful work, 
the Shannon Navigation, will be the means of opening 
out these wonderful treasures of mineral wealth, and 
the bare knowledge of these facts, whatever may be the 
success or failure of the companies embarked in their 
present development, will doubtless ultimately arouse 
the activity and enterprise of the country. But, inde- 
pendently of these larger and more prominent schemes, 
much is quietly undertaken for the benefit of this country 
by small associations, and also by patriotic individuals. 
Thus, in Mayo, a model farm has been established at 
Ballinglin, under a committee of nine Scotch gentlemen, 
whose names would do honour to any community. The 
precise object of this association I am not at present 
acquainted with, but the rank and well-known intelli- 
gence of the parties who conduct it, ensure its utility 
and philanthropy. With regard to individual exertions, 
I feel delicate in singling out any, where so many are 
above all praise. Much may be said for, as well as 
against, the landlords of Ireland. Certainly there have 
been, and are, many bad men among them; selfish beings, 
whose only object has ever been to perpetuate abuses, 
and to grind the poor ; men reckless of all social duties, 
regardless of the misery and degradation of their de- 
pendents, so that they could screw the last penny out 
of hunger, nakedness, and despair. Many such there 
have been, some such there are still. But times are 

M 5 



250 THE SAXON IN IRELAND. Chap. XXI. 

changed. Men of this kind are now, we trust, be- 
coming the exceptions, not the rule. The claims of 
man upon his fellow man are becoming more known and 
recognised, and there are many properties in Ireland at 
the present moment, where, in the face of moral and 
pecuniary difficulties enough to appal the stoutest heart, 
the proprietors are struggling manfully to perform their 
social duties ; to render their dependents comfortable ; 
to visit and relieve the sick ; to teach the ignorant ; to 
infuse upright and manly principles ; to encourage clean- 
liness, industry, and moral progress. In fact, Ireland 
is becoming every day more alive to her faults, and also 
to her duties ; she has been the victim of the most de- 
testable system of serfdom that ever cursed any Chris- 
tian country ; for centuries she has been struggling in 
the Slough of Despond ; once awakened to her real in- 
terests, the struggle to free herself will increase in 
strength and energy, and England will hold out the hand 
of sisterly affection to encourage and to assist her. 



251 



CHAP. XXII. 

IRRIGATION. — DRAINING STOCK-FARMING. — ADVANTAGES 

OF A COUNTRY EDUCATION. 

" Our farms here," said Mr. S., as we set out one 
morning on a ramble to the highland portion of his 
estate, " are best adapted at the present time for the 
breeding and rearing of stock. Let the purchasing price 
of stock be what it may, the profit on each beast or 
sheep is the same to the hill farmer. Low prices, there- 
fore, are so far an advantage that thereby capital will go 
further. If yearlings are at 4Z. each, 100 will of course 
cost 400Z., whereas at the present low prices the same sum 
will purchase 150, and yield therefore a larger profit. 
To those who buy to sell again in a year's time, from 1 1. 
to 80s. per head is the profit looked for, therefore the 
more stock you can buy and maintain, the greater your 
gains will be." " This," replied I, " must be very sure 
farming. If the profits upon stock remain the same 
whatever the price at first may be, the mountain pas- 
tures should rather increase than decrease in value." 
" Certainly," said he ; " and I have no doubt but that 
in a short time the mountain pastures will be in con- 
sequence much sought after, and good rents obtained. 
I consider them at present an excellent investment." 
" Then had you foreseen the present low prices of 
arable produce you would not have reclaimed so much 

H 6 



252 THE SAXON IN IRELAND. Chap. XXII. 

land?" "Yes; I should have reclaimed more, but in 
a different way. By draining and irrigation I would 
have fostered the natural grasses, increased the quantity 
and quality of sheep walk, created the largest quantity 
of dry pasture possible, and laying down meadows in 
proper places, have provided abundance of fodder for 
winter use, and extended my dairy in summer." " And 
is this the plan you would advise me to adopt ? " " That 
of course will depend upon the nature of the soil and 
surface of your estate. I should advise you to purchase 
a property having at least two thirds hill and grass land, 
to one third capable of tillage. I do not think ex- 
tensive arable operations, particularly if you have to 
reclaim your fields from the waste, can at present be 
sufficiently remunerative to a man of small means. His 
property is no doubt improved in value, but the returns 
are not sufficiently quick in cash, his farm is worth 
more, but his available capital is decreasing. The more 
certain plan to adopt in these remote and wild districts 
is, to rely upon stock, which, well attended to, will yield 
a sure profit. Improve your pastures, so that you can 
increase the stock upon them, and only cultivate — and 
that near at home — as much arable land as will supply 
your stock with straw to lie upon during the winter 
and esculents for their subsistence when the weather is 
stormy and severe. As your stock increases, increase 
your arable land in proportion, but not more ; and what- 
ever you undertake do it thoroughly, and with great 
consideration ; above all, be careful not to let any por- 
tion once reclaimed deteriorate. In bog lands there is 
as much care and energy required to maintain their fer- 
tility as to reclaim them. In the long run I am sure 
you will find my advice will answer. I anticipate what 



a. 



Chap. XXII. IRRIGATION. — DRAINING. 253 

you are about to remark, but mine is not a parallel case 
to yours. For years after I commenced, grain fetched 
a remunerative price ; but as things are now, and likely 
to be, I shall endeavour, by improving my hill pastures, 
to assimilate the quantity of my stock to my arable 
land. I shall grow less corn and more green food, and 
look to stock only, or principally at least, for my profit." 
" I quite allow the force of your argument. The pas- 
tures appear to me little attended to in these districts ; 
for instance, I see your sheep turned upon land which 
in England would give them all the rot in a week." — 
" Nevertheless that is not the case, but still your re- 
mark is founded in truth. We ought not to turn out 
our flocks on the wet bogs ; it cannot answer in the end. 
A little judicious surface draining, after the springs are 
cut off, will wonderfully improve these wastes, and pro- 
duce in a short time a far better, healthier, and more 
abundant herbage." — " Mr. Nimmo, in his Report to 
the Irish Bog Commissioners, I recollect, bears out your 
view on the subject. He states that the greater part 
of the meadows throughout Europe, and especially in 
Ireland, are formed on bottoms, which have originally 
been bogs, by means merely of a thin covering of allu- 
vial soil." — " Often that is the case, and perhaps the 
finest meadows in the world are those which have a 
vegetable substratum. But the great peculiarity of our 
Irish wastes is, that immediately on their being laid dry 
a spontaneous grass arises called Fiorin (Agrostis stolo- 
nifera), which is admirably adapted for cattle, and makes 
good sound hay. Where reclaiming operations are con- 
ducted on a large scale, it is well to know this fact, but 
in laying down my meadows I always sow a mixture of 
the best grasses to assist and improve the florin." 



254 THE SAXON IN IRELAND. Chap. XXII. 

" Which, are the grasses you conceive most natural to 
bog land when reclaimed ? " — " The Fox-tail grass (Alo- 
pecurus pratensis) is, I conceive, of all grasses the best, 
and I should never fail to try it, though certainly I never 
saw it growing naturally on these lands. Next to that 
the Cock's Foot grass (Dactylis glomerata), the Meadow 
Fescue (Festuca pratensis), and the smooth-stalked mea- 
dow grass (Poa pratensis) are valuable ; and I have fre- 
quently seen these and some others growing naturally 
on the bog in favourable places. Nature suggests what 
is best to be sown, and I always feel inclined to follow 
her dictation." 

We had now reached the base of a mountain which 
sloped gently almost from its summit into the vale below. 
In the centre I observed a strip of about ten acres lux- 
uriant with verdure, whilst on both sides of it heath 
with a mixture of the coarser aquatics predominated. 

" I brought you to this spot," said my friend, " to 
prove the doctrine I have so often laid down. Three 
years ago, the whole side of this hill was almost value- 
less. In the hollow above us, just where the summit of 
the mountain declines abruptly into an almost perpendi- 
cular chasm, is a small lake, very deep, and always full. 
In stormy weather it overflows, and you may judge of 
the quantity of the discharge by yon rugged and gaping 
water-course to our left. At all times, a small stream 
issues from the lake, and joins the river beyond the 
bridge, further down the valley. Now, by way of expe- 
riment, I determined to appropriate these waters to a 
useful purpose ; and as the slope of the hill was very 
gradual, I succeeded , at a trifling cost, in irrigating the 
strip of land you are now looking upon. The effect 
from the first was extraordinary. The great secret is in 



Chap. XXII. STOCK-FAEMING. 255 

passing the water quickly over the surface. The bog- 
appears then to be gorged or drowned. Much sediment, 
from the washing of the grounds above, will necessarily 
be carried over it, and deposited continually among the 
herbage, and thus each year increases its fertility." 
" But I perceive the water is particularly clear ; and I 
have always supposed that the benefit of irrigation was 
mainly, in its mechanical effects, as a carrier and depo- 
sitor of fertilising matter ? "■ — "More than that. Water, 
by its detergent quality, will wash off all feculencies, 
and promote the perspiration and health of the plant. 
In passing through boggy soil, it dilutes and carries off 
the astringent principles which would otherwise check 
the decomposition of the vegetable matter. If a field be, 
as you see before you, alternately flooded and laid dry, 
the coarse productions of the soil, such as the sphagna, 
junci, holci, &c, will disappear, and give way to a finer 
and more valuable herbage, and better adapted to the 
new state of the surface. The alopecurus, poa, fes- 
tuca, and, above all, the florin, will appear at once na- 
turally, and the land, hitherto waste, becomes, by the 
simplest of operations, most valuable." We found the 
stock grazing on the other side of the hill. There were 
a few kyloes, but the major part were short-horns. The 
sheep were of a mixed Cheviot breed, and the lambs 
were thriving and healthy. The whole of the stock did 
justice to their pasture, and some of them were half fat. 
From all I had observed, I every day more and more 
coincided with my friend's ideas ; and it was very evi- 
dent that stock-farming among these mountains would 
make a certain and profitable return, with little risk or 
trouble. Of course, disease will often make some havoc, 
and decrease the grazier's profits ; but this vaaj be in a 



256 THE SAXON IN IRELAND. Chap. XXII. 

great degree averted, by attention to cleanliness, warmth, 
and shelter. 

Nothing can exceed the kindness and hospitality of 
this worthy family ; I feel quite at home, and as if I 
had been intimate for years. The children, particularly 
Frank, would be ever with me, if they were allowed. 
We occasionally fish the pools together, make short ex- 
cursions into the mountains, and minutely observe all 
the operations of nature. Edwin is already an entomo- 
logist ; Catherine has her hortus siccus ; and Frank is the 
happy possessor of two otter skins, in whose capture he 
took an active part, and he can show flies of his own 
making, and talk learnedly of hooks and hackles. Were 
my childhood to come over again, I should wish it were 
passed in one of these solitudes. To develope the ener- 
gies of body or mind, there cannot be a better education. 
Nurtured amid the pure scenes of nature, the mind is 
best prepared for worshipping nature's God in spirit 
and in truth. Parents have here, too, a better chance. 
There is little danger of antagonist principles being in- 
stilled, and the heart is more likely to receive, with all 
faith and simplicity, the sublime principles of Christian 
morality. Among the children of this family, I have 
never heard a wish expressed to leave their own sweet 
valley ; they love and reverence their parents ; they 
attend implicitly to their instructions, and their parents 
have the rare tact of making strict discipline not incom- 
patible with a happy home. Indeed, without a firm and 
consistent discipline, the home of both parent an4» child 
must ever be miserable. Yesterday a letter was re- 
ceived from the eldest boy, and Mrs. S. kpdly placed it 
in my hands. It breathed a wild and daring spirit, but 
yet was full of affection to his mother. He was about 






Ch.XXII. advantages of country education. 257 

quitting England, in one of Her Majesty's ships-of war, 
for the West Indies. The captain was a relation of 
Mrs. S., and he had taken the young fellow in charge. 
"I do not see much harm about the boy," said this 
gentleman, in his letter to Mr. S., " but as I know his 
faults well, he will find they are met with the strong 
hand. I hope yet to make him a fine sailor, and 
worthy, by and by, of issuing orders from his own 
quarter-deck. Our discipline, which he will have to 
undergo for eighteen months at least, will give the young 
gentleman that habit of obedience he now so sadly 
lacks. I have great hopes of him from one circum- 
stance, — he tells the truth" 



^v 



258 



CHAP. XXIII. 



NEW SETTLEMENT. FUTURE PLANS. — ENCUMBERED 

ESTATES' COURT. — RELIGIOUS CONTROVERSIES. 

"We have now traversed the greater portion of this dis- 
trict ; and in selecting my future home, the only diffi- 
culty has been the great choice that presents itself. My 
anxiety to be near Glenduff increases, as I see more of 
my new friends ; but Mr. S., reciprocating, as I know he 
sincerely does, this feeling, yet maintains his former 
statement, that nearer the coast would afford greater 
pecuniary advantages. I have, therefore, made a kind 
of compromise between sentiment and profit, and have 
at length, with my friend's entire approbation, selected 
a townland, two miles and a half from Owenduff, and 
only separated from the coast by a portion of the plain, 
and the gently rising grounds that overlook Tullaghan 
Bay and its various arms running inland. My new do- 
main is 845 acres; at present only 12 are arable, 26 tole- 
rable enclosed meadow and pasture ; the remainder is 
in part black bog, about two to three feet deep, on a sub- 
stratum of clay and gravel, and high land, occupying the 
entire of a lofty knoll, an offset of the adjoining moun- 
tains. Half-way up the southern side of this green hill, 
is a beautiful spring, which, bursting copiously from the 
rock, even at this dry season, promises abundance of 
excellent water for all purposes. Near this spot will be 



Chap. XXIII. NEW SETTLEMENT. 259 

our future home ! Yesterday, the evening being fine, 
we all made an excursion to view the new place. Mrs. 
S. and the children were delighted : it was amusing to 
hear the thousand impracticable plans propounded by 
the juniors of the party. The capabilities are certainly 
encouraging. A kind of natural platform here inter- 
rupts the gradual slope of the ground. This may be 
made considerably wider eastward of the spring, with 
but little trouble, so that there will be ample room for 
the house and required offices : the garden we have 
planned out also ; it is to be westward of the house, and 
will be formed in three terraces, with sloping banks. 
Below it is a clear, natural pool, several hundred yards 
in circumference, which will be most useful. This, also, 
is supplied from a spring, which may be turned through 
the garden, if necessary. 

From my former descriptions you may easily picture 
to yourselves the views we shall enjoy from our new 
home and its precincts. Over distant Doona, the waters 
of Blacksod Bay sparkle in the distance. Rocky Deevi- 
lawn is seen far, far at sea. Slievemore raises his cone- 
like summit into the skies ; on the left is dark Cur- 
rawn and the Ballycroy mountains ; to the right, Cor- 
slieve and Slieve Alp. Before us an undulating plain 
stretching for two miles to the foot of the mountains, 
and disclosing here and there the still surface of many 
a small lake reposing in the quiet hollows. Richard 
O'Malley, Mr. S.'s right hand man, of whom I have 
before made mention, first pointed out this spot to me. 
He said it had often struck him as more eligible than 
Glenduff, and as enjoying many advantages that did 
not exist there. He had been busy all the morning, at 
the request of his master, in staking out the site of the 



260 THE SAXON IN IRELAND. Chap. XXIII. 

house and garden, and lie has also been indefatigable in 
his search after a proper stone for the buildings. As I 
intend the whole of the interior to be battened, and the 
exterior walls to be thickly stuccoed with stone lime or 
cement, if I can procure it, there will not be any 
elaborate masonry required, so that we shall have little 
difficulty in collecting stone sufficient for our purpose. 
The foundations will be deep and firmly grouted with 
freshly slacked lime, the interstices of the stones being 
filled with pebbles much in the same mode in which 
Doona Castle is built. The rising ground behind the 
house will be planted up to the summit of the hill, 
leaving a space of about 100 yards between the build- 
ings and the plantation fence. I have also arranged, 
notwithstanding a smile from my new friends at the 
oddity of the idea, to have our parlour exactly of the 
same size, height, and aspect as the dear old oak room 
at home ; and we will have the same furniture, books 
and pictures, so that perchance, we may sometimes 
forget that we are in a new and strange land. Mr. S. 
shakes his head w r hen I talk thus, and says it would be 
better, as much as possible, to avoid reminiscences, and 
begin life as it were anew. Perhaps he is right. Had 
I never known my English home I could have better 
loved this. But no doubt we shall soon be reconciled 
to the change. At all events, we shall have too much 
upon our hands to waste time in reminiscences ; and as 
our new home improves under our labours, our interest 
in it will, of course, increase, and our regrets gradually 
subside. Then, this is not like a new country. It is 
historical all over — full of the associations of olden 
times, yielding the same fruits, raising the same crops, 
inhabited by the same animals, birds, and fishes, as 



Chap. XXIII. FUTURE PLANS. 261 

merry England — similar in climate, and occupied by a 
people intermixed with our own race, and speaking our 
own language. In about sixteen hours we may at any 
time step on English ground, and in eight hours more, 
pace the streets of London. The recent improvements in 
travelling seem almost to annihilate time and space, and 
ere long, people will think as little of journeying to the 
shores of the Atlantic, and locating themselves among 
the green mountains or fertile plains of Mayo, as they 
used to think of a tour in Devonshire, or even a trip to 
Margate. Talking over these and various other mat- 
ters, planning and replanning, and exploring the hill 
on all sides, the evening soon passed away. The sun 
had already sunk beneath the western wave. Slieve- 
more looked dark in the distance, and the shadows 
deepened on the craggy slopes of Cuscumcurrah, warn- 
ing us to return ere the increasing darkness rendered 
our retreat difficult, if not dangerous. As I descended 
from the hill and gazed upon the wild amphitheatre 
around us, the bold outline of the mountains being now 
alone visible, their sides wrapped in gloom, and the 
plain like some dark sea intervening, I must confess 
that I thought with something very like regret upon 
our pleasant English home, our cheerful fields, our 
rural village, with its ivied church, where sleep many 
generations of my forefathers. I felt as Adam felt when 
the archangel came to close the gates of Paradise behind 
him: — 

" Departure from this happy place, our sweet 
Recess and only consolation left, 
Familiar to our eyes ! all places else 
Inhospitable appear and desolate, 
Not knowing us, nor known." 



262 THE SAXON IN IRELAND. Chap. XXIII. 

My kind friends noticed my dejection, and with that 
delicacy which ever distinguishes their intercourse, left 
me for a while to the indulgence of my own sad 
thoughts. The joyous voices, however, of the children 
roused me, as they picked their way along the mountain 
path, calling me, repeatedly, to join their party and 
partake their merriment. " You will have a far better 
prospect before you," said Mr. S. as we walked along 
the margin of the lake, " than I had when we first 
settled in these wilds. I had neither friends to advise, 
nor neighbours to cheer me. These western districts 
were then deemed inaccessible ; the people were not so 
well inclined to strangers ; and all the luxuries of life and 
many of its comforts were unattainable. How different 
now ! and how still more different will all be in a few 
brief years. The capabilities and advantages of this 
now neglected region will be known, and we shall 
probably live to witness the Saxon plough cultivating 
the greater portion of these now dreary and desolate 
plains ! 

The time draws near for my departure, and anxious 
as I am to join my dear fireside circle, yet I shall leave 
this excellent and hospitable family wiih regret. Were 
I a brother, Mr. and Mrs. S. could not treat me more 
kindly or show a greater desire to promote my wel- 
fare and happiness, and I doubt not, when you all 
arrive here, you will find the same feeling existing to- 
wards every member of my family. Indeed, with such 
friends near us to assist, console, and advise, I scarcely 
call ours a case of expatriation. Mr. S., in his quiet 
way, has promised to aid me in all points, and I know 
his sincerity so well, that he will do far more than he 
promises. He will guide us wisely and prudently, and 






Chap. XXIII. ENCUMBERED ESTATES' COURT. 263 

having succeeded himself, can best point out the right 
way to others. He and Mrs. S. have proposed that we 
use his house till ours is ready ; for Frank and Edwin 
are going to Dublin for some months, for the purpose of 
education, and they will only have Catherine at home, 
so that there will be abundance of room for all of us. 
I have accepted their invitation as frankly as it was 
given, and it is consoling to me to think that we shall 
all commence our residence in this country under such 
pleasant auspices. Our children will find delightful 
companions ready to receive them with every affec- 
tionate demonstration, and as for ourselves we have no 
cause to repine, but rather to thank the Author of all 
good for the many blessings thus scattered in our path. 



Dublin. 

Mr. S. kindly accompanied me thus far on my home- 
ward journey. He is assisting me to conclude the 
purchase of our new estate ; and as I am to have a title 
under the Encumbered Estates Act, the matter will be 
soon disposed of. The rule is to communicate the par- 
ticulars of the sale to the Commissioners, and if they 
approve the purchase, the money is paid into court, and 
the parliamentary title guaranteed. On payment of the 
money possession is given. This is, indeed, wise and 
merciful legislation. If anything can raise Ireland from 
her present state of wretchedness, it is this Act. As 
the law stood in this unhappy country, it was absolutely 
dangerous to purchase land ; and such a medley of 
titles, and claims, and interests encumbered almost every 
property, that to attempt a transfer was, in some cases, 



264 THE SAXON IN IRELAND. Chap. XXIII. 

to risk the whole value of the estate in law expenses. 
The extension of this wise measure to England would be 
indeed a boon to the over-taxed landed proprietors 
there ; and the value of land would be greatly enhanced 
by its adoption. As we travelled along, I had much 
conversation with my friend on the present state and 
future prospects of Ireland. He gave a most harrowing 
description of the state of the west, particularly in the 
years 1826 and 1827. Thousands had died of positive 
hunger. " We were greatly overpopulated," said he, 
" and the evil was yearly increasing. The ruinous 
system of subdivision of lands was spreading at a fearful 
pace, when it pleased God in His wisdom to check, and 
I trust to overthrow, it utterly. It was a system fraught 
with evil, moral and political, and, had it not been 
stopped, nothing could ultimately have saved us from a 
bloody struggle between the classes." You have asked 
me to inform myself as to whether middlemen were not 
the cause of much misery to the lower orders. They 
certainly were ; but the fault was not so much in them 
as in the law.* They were so hampered by legal restric- 
tions, that it was unprofitable for them either to transfer 
or to improve the land ; whilst they were induced to 
sub-let by the ample means for levying exorbitant rents 
in the power of distress and priority of recovering rent 
which they exercise as landlords. But place the middle- 
man, as a landlord, on an equality with other traders, 
giving him no more power of recovering his rents than 
they have for recovering their debts, and the evils of the 
system would soon cease. That it is greatly on the 
wane is everywhere manifest, by the numbers of dis- 

* Vide Hancock's Impediments to the Prosperity of, Ireland. 



Chap. XXIII. RELIGIOUS CONTROVERSIES. 265 

mantled cottages, and the disappearance of whole villages. 
Hard, and apparently cruel, however, as these ejectments 
at present appear, yet Mr. S. thinks it will prove to be 
for the ultimate benefit of the people. By no other 
method was the evil curable ; and it was thought better 
by many of the proprietors rather to encourage emigra- 
tion, and to feed the people in the union-houses, than 
that they should die of hunger or pestilence in their 
wretched and unwholesome cabins. Among those who 
are left a great improvement is said to be visible, and as 
paid labour is gradually substituted for their small and 
precarious holdings, the people will become more cleanly 
in their habits, and more satisfied with their condition. 
Many persons are deterred from settling in Ireland in 
consequence of the violent religious dissensions which 
are fostered and kept alive by teachers whose religion 
enjoins them to "live in peace." For my own part, I 
view these contests without the slightest anxiety as to 
the result. As I have already observed, they afford 
many strong arguments to schismatics and infidels, and 
destroy more souls under the mask of a love of unity on 
one side and a love of truth on the other, than all the 
writings of a Tom Paine or a Voltaire. But the grow- 
ing spirit of the age is against all these anomalies and 
inconsistencies ; men's eyes are gradually opening to 
the difficulty, if not absurdity, of coercing the human 
mind either in one way or the other. The settler in 
Ireland has nothing to do with these intemperate pro- 
ceedings; he will wisely stand aloof, and, whatever his 
creed may be, he will leave to others the enjoyment and 
benefit of their own opinions, and endeavour, by a quiet 
and consistent course, to prove the practical excellence 
of his own. For my part, I feel there is nothing to fear 

N 



266 THE SAXON IN IRELAND. Chap. XXIII. 

in settling in this beautiful island. The people naturally 
are brave, generous, and polite ; they are grateful for 
the kind word, and the just act ; they are ceasing to be 
so entirely the creatures of wild impulse, and every 
passing day is bringing them more under the dominion 
of common sense and right feeling. Education cannot 
now be stopped ; and it is to that, above all other things, 
we must look for the regeneration of Ireland. 



APPENDIX. 



The following extracts will be read with interest, as corrobo- 
rating in many points the ideas of the Author, as to the 
capabilities of Ireland, and the character of her people. To 
those who may wish to obtain a further and more thorough 
insight into the domestic habits and peculiar phraseology of 
our neighbours, the beautiful and accurately illustrated work 
by Mr. and Mrs. S. C. Hall, will afford a great treat. Mr. 
Knight's little volume, descriptive of Erris, will also be 
perused with profit. His sensible account of what has been 
done, and what may be done, in that remote corner of the 
British dominions, abounds with interest, and gives rise to 
much speculative thought. No man knows the district he 
describes better, if as well ; and it is to be hoped that he will 
be encouraged to extend his labours, as he has half promised, 
into the neighbouring baronies. 

FAREWELL TO BALLYCROY. 

" I have left these mountains, and never shall I enjoy the 
unalloyed excitement, the calm, luxurious solitude, which I 
found among these wastes. What has refinement to offer me 
in exchange? Will the overstocked preserve replace the 
moorland chase, with its glorious ridge of purple highlands, 
its silver lake, and sparkling river, — my wild followers, my 
tried friends, and the dear cabin, and its snowy tent, peeping 
from the dark expanse of heather like a white sea-bird 
from the lap of ocean? Alas! nothing will compensate 
for these, or give me an equivalent for the joyous intercourse 
with kindred spirits which I realized and left in the wilds of 
Ballycroy" — Maxwell's Wild Sports of the West 

H 2 



268 APPENDIX. 

ACHILL. 

For a detailed account of the establishment and progress of 
the Mission or Colony in this interesting island, see a letter 
inserted in the Appendix to " A Tour round Ireland, by 
John Barrow," 1836. No part of Ireland affords, from its 
peculiar circumstances, a fairer and more eligible field for 
investment than this. The lands bordering the Sound of 
Achill, and known as the Polrahnnies, Straheens, Kildurnet, 
and Cloughmore, offer great inducements to the settler. Not 
only are these districts salubrious and sheltered, and in the 
midst of splendid scenery, but the lands have been extensively 
reclaimed at the foot of the mountains, and valuable meadows 
and pastures extend down to the very shores of the strait. 
There is also abundance of sea manures and lime close at 
hand. 

BOGS. 

" There is a great deal of nonsense written about the waste 
lands of Ireland — the millions of acres of waste lands. 
There are, to be sure, millions of acres of land wild and 
dreary ; but they are not waste, if by waste is meant altoge- 
ther unproductive. Of the mountains of Ireland, especially 
those of the north and west, where there is not bare rock, 
the general surface is bog, only fit for the run of young black 
cattle in the summer season. These districts I consider as 
inapplicable to any other purpose than that to which they are 
now applied ; and they cannot be considered as waste, when 
they rear a quantity of stock which are subsequently fatted on 
the lower lands. Of the great central bog flows, which have 
the general appellation of the Bog of Allen, I consider the 
reclamation, for the present, to any great extent, as hopeless. 
But not so the shallow bog surfaces of Connemara, Erris, 
Sec. &c, where their level is low, and where, protected by 
sheltering mountains from the terrible north-west winds of 
the Atlantic, I hold that they are highly improvable ; that 
with lime, which is generally to be had convenient, gravel, 



APPENDIX. 269 

which is under the surface, and manure, which may be got 
from the adjoining sea, or from the manure made by housing 
cattle in the winter, abundant crops of corn, grass, and pota- 
toes, may be raised ; rape, for winter food, or for the making 
of oil, can, by the simple process of burning the surface and 
draining, be raised to any extent ; and, eventually, these 
tracts laid down to grass, and the drainage attended to, might 
become permanently productive, either as meadow or pasture. 
I am quite sure that the wastes of Erris and Connemara 
might be brought into productiveness, and made capable of 
supporting a large, and at the same time not superabundant, 
opulation ; which only can take place when a property is 
neglected, and when the owner is a short-sighted blockhead, 
or a person whose pecuniary difficulties and law embarrass- 
ments have deprived him of a control over what is called his 
property." — The Rev. C. Otwaifs Sketches in Erris and 
Tyrawley^ p. 414. 

EDUCATION. 

" The first step should be, the educational elevation of the 
people ; and I am quite sure the neglect of taking this step 
into calculation has been one great cause of all the failures in 
the way of improving their respective properties which the 
Connaught gentry have to lament." — lb. p. 415. 

" Of all the waste lands of Ireland, the shallow bog land, 
that at an elevation of 200 feet and under from the level of 
the sea, presenting a varied surface of swells and hollows, with 
ample and rapid drainage to the adjoining lakes and rivers, 
is the most improvable waste land in Ireland; while the 
mountain districts, from their height, and the flat low bogs 
from their depth and difficulty of drainage, present com- 
paratively unconquerable difficulties. Here is the evident 
mistake and misapplication of the funds of Societies who have 
hitherto undertaken the improvement of waste lands ; they 
have chosen either mountains, or flat and low bogs, and have 
sunk money to a large extent in impracticable adventures."— 
lb. p. 411. 

n3 



270 APPENDIX. 

TIMBER. 

" I never saw a country better adapted to the growth of 
trees, both in climate and soil. Whilst the richer ground is 
calculated for the oak, ash, and elm, and the poorer and more 
mountainous for the larch and birch tree, the wet and 
marshy soil would repay a very high rent by the cultivation 
of willow." — Sir R. C. Hoards Tour, p. 311. 

IRISH CHARACTER. 

" The Irishman is a very different being from either the 
Englishman, or his neighbour the Welchman. The traveller 
in Ireland will see a hardy and active race of people, civil 
and ever willing to serve and oblige the stranger. He will 
see that Nature has not been sparing in the endowment of his 
abilities, though poverty has denied him the power of im- 
proving them by education. A stranger will be struck with 
the naivete, propriety, and singularity of many of the ex- 
pressions made use of; in short, the stuff is good, and 
requires only the skill and management of an able hand to 
form and fashion it." — lb. p. 316. 

CAPABILITIES. 

" If we look to the temperature of the Irish climate, the 
fertility of its soil, the bays, estuaries, and rivers with which 
its provinces are intersected, — in short, if we consider the 
numerous and great advantages which Nature has profusely 
lavished upon this island, every one must view with secret 
satisfaction the latent riches and succour which the mother 
country may in future times derive from the daughter." — 
lb, p. 330. 

THE IRISH PEASANTRY. 

"During the scarcity of last year (1824) many instances 
came to our knowledge of the generous kindness which is 
silently exercised by the peasantry around us. A poor 
woman belonging to the lowlands died here of the fever. 



APPENDIX. 271 

Her sucking infant, as may well be supposed, did not survive : 
but a little girl of four years old was left a hapless orphan. 
His Honour inquired of the woman who told the melancholy 
tale, what was become of the child ? i Sure, I have her with 
my own,' was the answer ; ' there is no one in this country 
that she belongs to, and unless your Honour will be her 
friend, I must take to her myself.' This, you will observe, 
was in a time of general distress, and from one who had a 
family of her own to support. Little danger, indeed, is there 
that among the warm-hearted sons of Erin the orphan or the 
fatherless should ever want a friend. The kindness which 
they receive is not from their equals alone. There is scarcely 
a gentleman's house in the country which does not shelter 
one or more of these children of poverty; and in the re- 
ciprocal attachment that is thus fostered, there is something 
so patriarchal, as to call forth the sympathy of our best feel- 
ings." — Letters from the Irish Highlands, p. 207. 

IRISH WOMEN, 

" I was much and agreeably surprised to find how eagerly our 
poor women here (Renvyle in Galway) engaged in making up 
the clothes, the materials of which were last year supplied by 
the brotherly kindness of the English ; and how much better 
they acquitted themselves, as sempstresses, than could have 
been expected. They worked late and early. It was, in- 
deed, with mingled feelings of pain and pleasure that I 
noticed the cheerfulness, the alacrity, that was for the time 
imparted to their looks, and the many little rural presents of 
eggs, gloves of their own knitting, &c. &c. which, in grateful 
return, were brought to those who acted upon this occasion 
the pleasing part of agents to their distant benefactors. 
They seemed to ask nothing better than a continuation of 
employment ; and many of them gave a ready assent to an 
observation which I was often led to make, that the money 
thus earned was more valuable than tenfold its amount in 
gratuitous donation." — lb. p. 59. 

n 4 



272 APPENDIX. 



IRISH LABOURERS. 



" ' Is the case the same, you ask, with respect to the men ? ' 
One simple fact will, I think, satisfactorily answer your 
question. "When the roads were first undertaken in this part 
of the country, it was given out, that all who wished it, 
should be employed. The population is so large, the number 
able and willing to work so great, that after the first pressure 
of want was over, it was found necessary to exclude the 
boys, and limit it to those who were without any other 
means of subsistence. Instances were then known of boys 
standing on stones and sods of turf, to obviate any objection 
to their age from the lowness of their stature. The truth 
appears to be this : both men and women willingly engage in 
any kind of labour for which they are sure of being paid; 
but they are naturally discouraged from venturing on any 
speculations, the failure of which involves them in hopeless 
ruin. Unfortunately, they have this year met with another 
of those disappointments, which have so often and so cruelly 
checked the spirit of industry and improvement in Ireland. 
Owing to delays in the remittances from Government, pay- 
ment on the roads was deferred from day to day. Many a 
long week were they kept in lingering expectation, till at 
length, when they received the money, it was no longer their 
own. The whole, or nearly the whole, was engaged to pay 
for the potatoes on which they had been subsisting during 
the winter, and which they had, of course, purchased at a 
disadvantage. This, I am persuaded, is the reason of their 
reluctance to engage in the contracts by which it is intended 
to continue the road-making, instead of allowing them to 
work by the day. I may mention, as a proof of their capa- 
bility of exertion, that a gentleman in this neighbourhood, 
being desirous the other day of making a road to his newly- 
opened quarry for marble, easily mustered between seven and 
eight hundred men, not only among his own tenantry, but 
likewise from the surrounding villages, who voluntarily 
engaged themselves, on the promise of being supplied with 



APPENDIX. 273 

their daily provisions, without any further recompence ; and 
one mile and a quarter of deep bog was actually cut through, 
drained, and gravelled in the course of one week." — lb. 
p. 62. 

RECLAMATION OF BOGS. 

" In answer to an assertion made by some persons, that a 
bog deprived of water is a caput mortuum, on which no 
plant will vegetate, either spontaneously or by any alteration 
in the composition of its surface that can be effected, it may 
be observed, that although bog, when first drained, appears 
to have lost the power of supporting aquatic plants, without 
a capability of supplying food for the vegetation of plants ot 
a different and more useful nature, — still, if we have pa- 
tience till the bog-moss *, which composes the upper surface 
of the bog, shall have subsided, and by the near approach of 
their mossy fibres (which, when alive, are kept asunder by 
water), and exposure to the atmosphere, shall become (to a 
certain degree) putrid, it will be found that various grasses of 
good quality, and even white clover, will vegetate spon- 
taneously on its surface. But it is not to be supposed that an 
active people will thus suffer nature, unassisted, slowly to 
attain a desirable alteration on the upper surface of drained 
bogs; they will naturally join hand in hand with her, and by 
the simple process of digging or ploughing up the surface of 
the drained bog, and by gathering it into heaps, and, in 
dry weather, setting fire to them (having previously mixed a 
portion of clay among the heaps, which is always to be found 
in inexhaustible quantities beneath the bog), accomplish in 
two years what nature, unassisted, might have attained, less 
perfectly, in ten. This species of manure, which by long 
experience, both in Ireland and in Scotland, has been ascer- 
tained to be the most efficacious in altering the properties of 
pure peat, is the ashes of peat, taken from the most solid part 
of the bog, nearest the bottom. The composition of these 
ashes is usually found to be burnt clay, containing a large 

* Sphagnum palustre. 
N 5 



274 APPENDIX. 

proportion of oxyde of iron, and a small portion of charcoal. 
From this analysis, we may be led, with tolerable certainty, 
to draw the conclusion, that clay taken from the bottom of 
the bog, which must be similar to that contained in the peat 
immediately above it, and mixed and burned with the moss 
that forms the upper part of the bog, would, by increasing 
the quantity of the clay, have more effect in the decom- 
position of peat, so' as to render it capable of affording 
nourishment to plants of almost every description, than the 
red ashes produced by the under stratum of the bog alone, 
which, as already stated, has been universally approved of. 
Mr. Nasmith, of Hamilton, in his admirable ' Essay on the 
Properties and Uses of Peat,' states, that cohesive earth 
which has suffered torrefaction, such as brick-dust, is a most 
powerful solvent of peat. The next manure in value to 
ashes is lime, which, however, should be used but sparingly 
in the first instance ; but it is admirable in producing sweet 
herbage in surface-dressing on reclaimed bog." — Vide Ap- 
pendix to the First Beport from the Commissioners on the 
Nature and Extent of Bogs in Ireland, p. 30. 

ON THE DRAINAGE OF BOGS. 

" Whether deep or surface-drainage is best adapted to the 
reclamation of bog, is a point of great importance, because it 
must be evident that to sink drains to the bottom of bogs, so 
deep as those reported on, would occasion such an expense as 
the subsequent improvement of the land would hardly cover. 
But we have the most satisfactory proof, in the reports of our 
engineers, that such deep drainage is not necessary, and that 
the surface of a bog may be highly improved, so as to bear 
crops, without drawing off the water from the lower strata. 

" Mr. Longfield * considers, that the efficacy of drains is not 
proportioned to their depth beyond a certain extent; his 
system, therefore, is one of main, minor, and cross drains, of 

* The gentlemen whose opinions are here quoted, were engineers em- 
ployed by the commissioners. 



APPENDIX. 275 

moderate dimensions. The main drain he purposes to be 
from ten to fifteen feet in depth ; the surface- drains to be 
four feet in depth, and four feet in breadth, with perpen- 
dicular sides. He argues, from his own experience, that 
perpendicular surface-drains do not collapse or close together; 
that they do not retain or catch the waters falling on the 
surface, but harden, and become, in fact, a bog wall. 

"Mr. Edgeworth, in his Report, does not approve of a general 
system of deep drainage ; because he considers deep drains to 
be little more effectual than shallow. He also recommends 
that the sides of the drains should be perpendicular, and the 
bottom, or sole of the drain, to be in the shape of an inverted 
arch, so as to resist the lateral and upward pressure of the 
mass of bog, and to form a narrow channel for the water, 
whereby its current will be accelerated, and will keep the 
drain free. 

" Mr. Richard Griffith, jun., states, that the chief desidera- 
tum in cutting bog-drains, is to form them in such a manner 
that they shall keep themselves clean, and that their sides 
shall have no tendency to collapse. The first of these ob- 
jects, he thinks, may be obtained by making the bottom of 
the drains sufficiently narrow, proportioned to the quantity 
of water which is likely to pass through them, and the sides 
may be prevented from falling in by giving them a sufficient 
slope. That which he has recommended is six inches increase 
of width on either side for every foot in height; thus the 
proper dimensions of minor drains are nine feet top, one foot 
bottom, eight feet deep. He observes, that the bog-drains 
which he has seen made with perpendicular sides, are always 
vafirm bog, and that, in his opinion, it is utterly impracticable 
to form such drains in very wet bog. He is induced, further, 
to recommend drains narrow at bottom, from a consideration 
of economy, as they contain fewer cubic yards in a running 
perch of work, and the principal part of the excavation is at 
the surface, where no pitching is required. 

" Mr. Townshend maintains, that small drains, with level- 
n6 



276 APPENDIX. 

ling and trimming the surface, will effect the purposes of 
drainage completely, and that the immense saving of expense, 
time, and risk in execution, will make them, beyond compa- 
rison, preferable to the deep ones." — Second Report of the 
Commissioners. 

ON THE NATURE AND PROPERTIES OF BOG. 
{Extracted from Mr. Bald's Report to the Commissioners.*) 
" Bog is formed of vegetable matter, with some small part 
generally of earthy, metallic, and saline substance. In the 
lower strata of bog, the vegetable matter is formed in a state 
of decomposition ; in the higher strata, in a state of rixney ; 
and on the surface in a living state, unless when drained, or 
cut away for turf. In Ireland, the bogs are formed of flag- 
plants in the lower strata, and of moss-plants afterwards, 
with different admixtures of decomposed leaves, the small 
branches and bark of wood, — the larger parts of wood, con- 
sisting of oak, pine, yew, and willow, being still found in a 
recent state ; they are all in a semi-fluid state, from the water 
they contain, and which is the support of the moss of which 
the bogs are principally formed. The cause of bog may 
therefore be fairly presumed to be, the obstructions given by 
the inequalities of the ground, or the falling of trees or other 
substances, to the free passage of the water, supplied either 
by springs or by rain, affording the proper food of the flag 
and moss -plants of which it is formed. As effects cease 
with their causes, so to give a perfect free passage to the 
waters from the substratum of bog, must destroy the food of 
the flags and mosses, produce their consequent death, decom- 
position, and formation into vegetable mould ; which, in its 
progress, can be rapidly increased by periodical flooding with 
water, and drying by mechanical mixture, by paring and 
burning the surface, by the addition of other recent vegetable 
matter, or animal, earthy, or stony matter, or by all these 
means at different times, or any of them most suited to the 
situation of the particular bogs. When reduced to a state of 



APPENDIX. 277 

vegetable mould, without the addition of any earthy or stony 
matter, bogs are capable of producing luxuriant grass, both 
for pasture and meadow, potatoes, turnips, cabbage, rape, flax, 
oats, barley, and rye in abundant crops, also timber-trees, and, 
I do believe, hemp ; but having no positive certainty of the 
fact, only offer my belief." 

TREES. 

Dr. Paterson, on the Climate of Ireland, p. 185., mentions, 
" that ascending the lofty mountain of Lough Salt, a few 
years past, stood a very respectable wood, facing directly the 
north-west ; and from this place, through a space of some 
miles westward, in a rough mountainous country, several 
woods were growing on exposed heights within these forty 
years. Page 188., he says: "The trees in Kilderry, the 
oldest of which were planted prior to the year 1711, grow in 
a soil whose upper stratum is peat, and whose under stratum 
is either a gravelly loam or a sea mud. They are situated 
in a flat space of ground, very much exposed to the south- 
west gales." In a note, Dr. Paterson also remarks, " that 
at Kilderry young trees thrive remarkably well. General 
Hart, within these three or four years, has planted above 
thirty thousand trees of various kinds, some of them in 
moory ground, without breaking up the general surface, but 
merely by opening holes and mixing the clay with the peat, 
afterwards keeping them firm by surrounding them with the 
sods cut off the surface of the holes." At p. 194. he says, 
" At Fairhead, the most northerly extremity of Ireland, and 
exposed to the fury of the North Sea, the mountain-ash, 
beech, and oak, with other indigenous trees, grow luxuriantly 
within fifteen or twenty yards of high-water mark. In every 
other part along the coast, where land is of the same form, 
viz. very high, it is covered with thriving wood." 

" The plantations," says Mr. Bald, " made by the late Mar- 
quis of Sligo, on a heathy and exposed hill, with the upper 
stratum chiefly composed of peat, eastward of the town 
of Westport, without any previous preparation, are in a 



278 APPENDIX. 

remarkably thriving state, and composed of larch, pine, and 
various other species of trees. Natural oaks grow on all 
the boggy hills throughout this district, alone kept down by 
the browsing and injury of cattle. Therefore all those bogs 
which rise to an altitude too great for the profitable cul- 
tivation of grain, can, with even superior advantage to the 
public and the individual, be applied to the production of 
timber by planting and fencing alone." 

VEGETABLE MOULD. 

" By the addition of earthy or stony matter to vegetable 
mould, a soil is produced of the highest possible fertility, 
and more easy and certain in all the operations of agriculture, 
capable of producing all the crops which our climate affords, 
with the single exception of wheat. Vegetable mould is 
well known to be the most truly valuable of all the manures 
to the grounds of this country, and indeed of most others 
also." — Vide Mr. Bald's Report. 

Lord Meadowbank, in a publication of the year 1802, 
mentions of peat moss reduced to the state of vegetable 
mould by decomposition, and used as a manure : " Both the 
power and the duration of the manure have now stood the 
test of a great variety of trials, and considerable extent of 
ground and of much variety of soil, continued without inter- 
mission the last six years ; hitherto it has been found equal, 
and indeed preferable, to common farm-yard dung for the 
first three years, and decidedly to surpass it afterwards." — 
lb. p. 133. 

VARIETIES OF PEAT OR BOG. 

" 1 . Fibrous peat, called by the natives red bog, and some- 
times brown bog. It consists of several varieties of moss 
and other plants, whose organization is perceptible, but ap- 
proaching towards a state of decay ; it is of a tough, spongy 
nature, and is seldom used as fuel. 

"2. Fluid peat, or quagmire, is usually situated on the 



APPENDIX. 279 

summits of the bogs, in the vicinity of the springs or sources 
of the streams. It consists of decayed vegetable matter, 
saturated with water. 

" 3. Compact peat, generally known by the name of black 
bog, consists of vegetable matter in a more advanced state of 
decay than the fibrous peat. 

" 4. Turbary, or turf bog, is that part of the bog where turf 
is cut for fuel. It is composed principally of compact peat." 
— Vide Report of Mr. David Aher i p, 83. 

EXPENSE OF RECLAMATION. 

" The process of cultivation after drainage consists in 
paring, burning, and coating the surface with limestone, 
gravel, and clay, in various quantities, at the rate of from five 
to fifteen hundred loads per Irish acre, each load weighing 
about six hundred weight. In some places, only paring and 
burning is resorted to, which is a cheap method of reclaim- 
ing black bog, and succeeds extremely well. The difference 
in the depth of reclaimed bog does not seem to have any 
effect on the produce of its crops. The best rotation of 
crops for these bogs (in Queen's County) appears to be the 
following : viz. : — 

" 1st year, potatoes or rape. 

" 2nd year, oats laid down with hay seed and white clover. 

" 3rd year, meadow, after which it may be used as pasture 
for some years. 

" Sometimes two or three successive crops of potatoes, as 
also oats, are taken off without any additional manure ; how- 
ever, it would be advisable to add a small quantity of gravel 
to each crop. The bog, being previously drained, may be 
prepared for the foregoing succession of crops, by covering its 
surface with gravel an inch in thickness, being at the rate 
of 360 tons to an Irish acre, which, with the assistance of 
portable railroads, may be laid on the surface for 8/. 12s. per 
acre, as will appear by the following estimate. 



280 APPENEIX. 



Digging and filling 360 tons of gravel at 2d. per ton 
Drawing the same from gravel pit at 2\d. per ton 
Spreading at \d. per ton - 

Cost of railway and waggons - 
Wear and tear, and removing - 
Damage to gravel pit - 



£ 


s. 


d. 


3 








3 


15 








15 








10 








7 








5 






8 12 

Draining as per estimate - - - 1 17 9 



Total expense of draining and gravelling an Irish 1 , ~ q q 
acre of bog - - - - J 

being at the rate of 61. 9s. 6d. per English acre. 

"The bog thus improved will be worth from 25 to 35 shil- 
lings per Irish acre.* 

' ' Planting on bog may be carried on successfully to a very 
great extent. The principal kind of trees which are found 
growing on the bogs are fir, alder, birch, beech, hazel, sallow, 
and holly, all of which appear to thrive as luxuriantly, or 
nearly so, on well drained compact peat, of any depth, as on 
the upland soil. Soft red bog, besides draining, requires a 
few shovelfuls of clay and limestone gravel to be thrown 
about the roots." — lb. p. 92. 

SUCCESSIVE GROWTH OF TREES. 

"In the bog of Clonty glass the turf banks exhibit three 
successive growths of trees, which, with part of the stems 
attached to them, are found remaining undisturbed from the 
original situation in which they grew. The first, or oldest 
growth, is in contact with the gravel, being from 18 to 24 
inches in height. They are separated from the second or 
middle growth by a stratum of very compact black peat, 
called stone turf, three feet in thickness ; the roots and 

* In perusing the foregoing statements, we must bear in mind that 
they were written long previous to the withdrawal of protection to 
agriculture. 



APPENDIX. 281 

stems extend about 4 feet in height, over which there is a 
stratum of fibrous peat of a light brown colour, about 18 
inches thick, and on this a third growth appears, not more 
than about two feet in height, and is covered with moss, 
grass, rushes, and heath, for about 9 inches in depth. The 
stems of this growth are sometimes visible above the surface." 
— lb. p. 93. 

ANALYSIS OF PEAT. 

Twenty-four cubic inches of compact blackish-brown turf, 
recently cut from a turf bank in the bog of Abbeyleix, 
weighed 6544 grains ; being left in a warm room twelve 
days, was reduced to 13 cubic inches, and in weight 1640 
grains, which produced 320 grains of charcoal, containing 
four cubic inches. 2000 grains of this turf, well dried, 
gave 100 grains of yellowish-red ashes, which were found 
to contain — 

Other Specimens varied as under. 





Parts. 


Parts. 


Parts. 


Parts. 


Carbonate of lime 


35 


61 


21 


27 


Gypsum. 


31 


22 


6 


9 


Carbonate of magnesia 


3 











Silex - 


13 


8 


25 


26 


Alumine 


10 


5 


26 


21 


Oxide of iron 


8 


4 


22 


17 



100 100 100 100 

— lb. p. 93. 
Professor Wade has published, in obedience to the wish of the 
Commissioners, an interesting and highly instructive "Me- 
moir of the Vegetable Matter of Bogs." "It is well known," 
he says, "that all boggy grounds are not only thickly covered 
over with mosses, but that, in a half-decayed state, they in a 
great measure contribute to their solidity. The bog moss 
( Sphagnum) appears to be most predominant, and performs the 
chief share in the generating of turf bogs. Mosses retain 
moisture for a length of time without rotting, and from this 
quality, are worthy of attention in many points of view ; and 
it is singular that no moss has been discovered liable to the 
attack of insects or worms. Many species of lichens are also 



282 APPENDIX. 

to be met with in bogs. The rein-deer lichen is to be found 
in abundance on our heathy bogs. The different species 
and varieties of the cup-moss, tipped with their beautiful 
and conspicuous scarlet tubercles, are likewise to be seen ad- 
hering to the turfy surface ; also the heath-moss {Lichen 
ericetorum), the ground-lichen {Lichen caninus), and many 
other species. I have no doubt but most of our good 
grasses may be cultivated on reclaimed bog. Some of them 
I have occasionally met with in bogs in their unreclaimed 
state, as the white hay-seed grass, the highly valuable cock's- 
foot grass, and the meadow fescue ; the tall fescue, and the 
celebrated creeping bent grass, or florin {Agrostis stolonifera), 
is known to be abundant." — Vide Appendix, No. 4. 

A pamphlet published by Mr. Murray was lately placed in 
my hands, entitled " A Sketch of the State of Ireland, Past 
and Present," which I perused with interest; I know not 
which pleased me most, the matter or the style. The author 
seems to have combined in his composition all the majesty 
and antithetical force of Tacitus ; and he at least equals that 
great writer in his vivacity and terseness of description. 
Recommending a perusal of the work itself, I have ventured 
to extract a few passages which appear to bear upon the 
subjects I have discussed in the foregoing pages. 

IRISH CHARACTER. 

"With genius they are profusely gifted, with judgment 
sparingly ; to acquire knowledge they find more easy than 
to arrange and employ it ; inferior in vanity only to the 
French, and in wit superior perhaps even to the Italian, 
they are more able to give, and more ready to receive, amuse- 
ment than instruction ; in raillery and adulation they freely 
indulge, but without malignity or baseness. It is the sin- 
gular temper of this people, that they are prone equally to 
satirize and to praise, and patient alike of sarcasm and flat- 
tery; inclining to exaggerate, but not intending to deceive, you 
will applaud them rather for sincerity than truth. Accuracy is 



APPENDIX. 283 

not the merit, nor duplicity the failing, of a lively but uncul- 
tivated people. The passions lie on the surface, unsheltered 
from irritation or notice; and cautious England is too fond of 
recognizing the Irish character only by those inconsistencies 
and errors, which her own novercal government has con- 
tributed to produce or perpetuate. The nobility and affluent 
gentry spend much or all their fortunes and time in England, 
leaving their places to be filled, in the country by hired 
agents, in the city by a plebeian aristocracy. A great evil, 
not because the country is drained by remittances, but be- 
cause she is widowed of her natural protectors. The loss is, 
not of money, but manners ; not of wealth, but of civilization 
and peace." 

THE PEASANTRY. 

" The condition of the peasant was of late (1807) utterly, 
and is still almost, barbarous. What the Romans found the 
Britons and Germans, the Britons found the Irish,— and left 
them. The neglect of the conquerors, the degeneracy of the 
colonists, and the obstinacy of the natives, have preserved, 
even to our day, living proofs of the veracity of Csesar and 
Tacitus; of this, many will affect to be incredulous — of the 
Irish, lest it diminish the character of their country — of the 
English, because it arraigns the wisdom and policy of their 
system. But the experienced know it to be true, and the 
impartial will own it. The cultivator of the land seldom 
holds from the inheritor ; between them stand a series of 
sub-landlords and tenants, each receiving a profit from his 
lessee, but having no further interest or connexion with the 
soil. The last in the series must provide for the profits of 
all ; he therefore parcels out, at rack-rents, the land to his 
miserable tenantry. Here is no yeomanry, no agricultural 
capitalist, no degree between the landlord and labourer ; 
and the words 'peasantry' and 'poor' are synonymous. 
The peasantry of Ireland are generally of the Roman Ca- 
tholic religion, but utterly and disgracefully ignorant ; few 
among them can read, fewer write. Popish legends and 



284 APPENDIX. 

pagan tradition are confounded and revered ; for certain 
holy wells and sacred places they have extraordinary respect ; 
thither crowd the sick for cure, and the sinful for expiation ; 
and their priests, deluded or deluding, enjoin those pil- 
grimages as penance, or applaud them, when voluntary, as 
piety. The religion of such a people is not to be confounded 
with one of the same name, professed by the enlightened 
nations of Europe." 

NECESSITY OF MORE GENERAL EDUCATION. 

" The remedy of this evil must be sought in its causes — a 
narrow and sectarian plan of education, the mistaken policy 
of the popish priesthood, the absence or indolence of the 
established clergy, — sources of more and greater evils than 
Ireland thinks, or England would believe. To the govern- 
ment I should say, 'Educate your people:' I care not by 
what system if it be capacious, nor at what cost if it be 
productive. Between systems of public instruction I will 
not decide ; that, however, must be preferable, which acts 
most by incitement and least by force. I should even, not 
unhesitatingly, venture to propose, that those only should 
vote at elections who could write and read their own affida- 
vits of registry. Is it not monstrous in theory as well as 
practice, that. the grossest ignorance should influence the 
choice of a legislator as much as the most cultivated under- 
standing ? To the Soman Catholic priesthood I would say, 
< You profess to be ministers of light, not of darkness ; you 
should advance learning, you shall not impede it ; your 
tenets shall not be invaded, but your flocks shall be in- 
structed. If you will not co-operate in a generous system of 
national education, expect no favour from the nation — you 
shall have none.' But to the Established clergy what shall I 
urge ? These are not days of sloth. A friend to religion, I 
am an enemy to salaried idleness. To the 2500 parishes I 
would have 2500 parsons ; no curates at 50/. a year, nor 
absentees at 2000/. ; no starving zeal, no lazy affluence. The 
ecclesiastical establishment which laymen are invoked to de- 






APPENDIX. 285 

fend, churchmen should support by their presence, dignify 
by their piety, and extend by their example." 

"Without pretending to adopt all the opinions put forth in 
this eloquent essay, I think I have quoted sufficient to rouse 
the reader's reflection, and to make him desirous of seeking 
a better acquaintance with pages so boldly and forcibly 
penned. 

farmers' estate society. 

I cannot close this my testimony to the capabilities of 
Ireland without directing the earnest attention of all well- 
wishers for her future prosperity to a society constituted 
under a special act of Parliament, entitled " the Farmers' 
Estate Society." Should the highly respectable parties from 
whom this attempt at the amelioration of their common 
country emanates, meet with that support from the British 
public which they so justly merit and so reasonably claim, 
a new aspect will soon pervade the sister island, and the 
only real panacea to her wrongs and her sufferings be at 
once and successfully applied. For by this, education, in- 
dustry, and order, will be at once promoted and encouraged. 
The Earl of Devon, the Earl of Courtown, Sir Matthew 
Barrington, Bart, (names ever associated with true pa- 
triotism, and ever foremost where Ireland is to be benefited), 
together with other respectable parties, stand forward as the 
promoters of this truly useful association ; and as their views 
are so completely in unison with the design of my work, I 
need no apology for presenting to my readers a short abstract 
of the objects they have in view, and of earnestly commend- 
ing their cause to the active patronage and co-operation of 
every friend of these two countries, whose interests and pros- 
perity are and ever must be so closely united. " The form- 
ation of this society," says the prospectus, " has been long 
contemplated by many persons interested in Ireland, as likely 
to be most beneficial to that country. Supported by indi- 
viduals of practical experience, and favourably received by 
the government, it is now for the first time brought under 



286 APPENDIX. 

public notice. Notwithstanding the fact that Ireland is 
almost entirely an agricultural country, possessed of su- 
perior natural resources, and although its inhabitants may 
be classed among the most laborious of any people in Europe, 
it is yet well known that the soil has, till very lately, been 
altogether avoided by capitalists, as not offering an adequate 
reward or security for the investment of property, or the ap- 
plication of industry and skill ; and notwithstanding its pos- 
session of natural advantages second to no other country in 
Europe, it is yet among the most wretchedly cultivated. 
This has arisen in a great measure from the miserably de- 
pendent condition in which not the peasantry only, but the 
farmers, have existed for years past — a dependency so com- 
plete, that there is scarcely any middle class of agriculturists, 
of yeomanry, or small freehold proprietors ; whilst in Eng- 
land, and in almost every other country, a great body of 
such proprietors are scattered through the land. 

" The want of an independent and industrious middle 
class OF yeomanry is 'practically one of the great evils of 
Ireland, both physical and social. 

"The 'Farmers' Estate Society' is formed to correct 
this essential evil. It will supply a middle class of agricul- 
turists, and will give the thrifty and industrious farmer the 
opportunity of acquiring an estate in his farm upon terms at 
once advantageous to himself and to the country at large — 
thereby creating a yeomanry and body of small proprietors, 
such as at present exist in many European countries, and in 
the Channel Islands. The improved cultivation, the in- 
creased value of land, and the security and attachment to the 
laws, likely to follow such a change, are obvious and 
undeniable. 

" Similar societies exist in France and Savoy, and have 
been found most beneficial to the farmers, and profitable to 
the shareholders ; also in the islands of Guernsey and Jersey, 
and there the facility of obtaining a proprietary right to land, 
without paying down the purchase money, is found to be a 
strong incentive to early habits of economy and prudence. 






APPENDIX. 287 

A man having paid down in cash part of the value of the 
land he holds, is stimulated by the most powerful impulse to 
redeem the annual instalments, and disengage his estate from 
the incumbrance of the balance of the purchase money. In 
the eyes of a person so circumstanced, labour loses its re- 
pulsive character, for he feels that he is working for himself ; 
he has an object constantly before his mind, which he 
steadily pursues, he feels proud of his position, and the spirit 
of independence is fostered within him. 

" The passion of Ireland — a desire for land — will be met 
by this Society, which, while it will in a gradual and legiti- 
mate manner, create what is so much wanted, a class of small 
resident proprietors, will, at the same time, prevent the small 
sub-division of land, which has been so ruinous to the 
country. 

" Such a body will co-operate, as in other countries, with 
the larger proprietors, for the better cultivation of the soil ; 
in acting as poor law guardians, jurors, and in the other 
duties of landed proprietors. The labouring population will 
be greatly benefited, as it may be fairly expected that every 
such purchaser as this society contemplates, will be an im- 
prover, and as a proprietor have a direct interest both in the 
minute increase of his own cultivation, and in keeping down 
poor rates by the employment of the able-bodied labourer. 
He will also be an unpaid police officer, for the preservation 
of the peace of the district in which he resides, and in the 
discovery and punishment of the perpetrators of outrages, in 
the suppression of which he will be as deeply interested as 
the larger proprietor in his neighbourhood. 

" Results such as these will be admitted on all hands, and 
by all parties, to be invaluable. It remains to be shown that 
they are to be obtained in a manner that will be remunerative 
to those who embark in the operation, and also that they can 
be placed within the reach of those for whose benefit they 
are designed. 

" The Report of the Commissioners appointed by her Ma- 
jesty to inquire into the State of Landed Property in Ireland > 



288 APPENDIX. 

has lately being presented to Parliament, and in it is the 
following statement : — 

" i We believe that there is a large number of persons in 
Ireland possessing a small amount of capital, which they 
would gladly employ in the purchase and cultivation of land, 
and a still larger number now resident in different parts of 
the country, and holding land for uncertain or limited terms 
at a rent, who would most cheerfully embrace the oppor- 
tunity of becoming proprietors. The gradual introduction 
of such a class of men would be a great improvement in the 
social condition of Ireland. A much larger proportion of the 
population than at present would become personally inter- 
ested in the preservation of peace and good order, and the 
prospect of gaining admission into this class of small land- 
owners would often stimulate the renting farmer to increased 
and persevering industry.' 

" The proprietors of Government 3^ per cent, stock in 
Ireland amount to about 22,000, and of these, one-half and 
upwards (say 11,200) are proprietors of sums of 200/. and 
under. It is well known, that a very large proportion of 
these are tenant farmers ; many of whom, though apparently 
in indigence, possess, besides their investments in the Go- 
vernment funds, considerable sums lodged in the Savings' 
Banks. It is notorious, that many of these would prefer an 
investment of their money in the purchase of the fee of the 
lands of which they are now tenants. If any evidence of 
this truth were wanting, it is supplied in the fact of the very 
large sums now paid for the goodwill, or what is called the 
tenant-right in farms, though only held at will, or for very 
short terms ; and which the Land Commissioners' Report of 
evidence shows to frequently reach an amount greater than 
the value of the fee simple. 

" The ' Farmers' Estate Society ' proposes to take measures 
to satisfy the want indicated by these facts, and to carry out 
the views of the Land Commissioners, as expressed in the 
foregoing extract, by purchasing eligible estates in fee, as 
they come into the market, and selling them afterwards in 



APPENDIX. 289 

small lots of not less than forty statute acres (24a. 2r. 31p. 
Irish), the preference being given to the tenant in possession, 
if unobjectionable in other respects, and the purchase money 
taken in half-yearly payments. The purchase money being 
thus taken by instalments, the purchaser can expend any 
capital he possesses in the cultivation of the land, erecting 
buildings, and making other improvements ; and as he im- 
proves he will be the better enabled to pay larger instalments, 
until the purchase shall be completed ; a system materially 
different from the present, under which the farmer generally 
gives all he possesses to get possession of a farm, and has no 
capital left for cultivation or stocking. 

" Provision will be made to prevent the subdivision of any 
farm so purchased to less than twenty acres, on the principle 
of the Act of the 31 Elizabeth, c. 7., which was passed before 
the introduction of the poor law into England. 

" That the operations of the Society will be sufficiently re- 
munerative to render its shares a desirable mode of invest- 
ment, the promoters have the best grounds for believing. 
The profits will accrue from the difference between the sum 
for which an estate will sell in gross, and for cash, and the 
aggregate of the sums it will bring if sold in small parcels, to 
be paid for in deferred instalments ; and also from the interest 
on the portions of the purchase money thus allowed to lie for 
a fixed period in the hands of the purchaser. Tables exhibit- 
ing these data have been prepared by the actuary with great 
care, and taking the price of land sold in large parcels at the 
rate of 22^ years' purchase, being the average of 20 to 25 
years, and calculating the selling price by the Society in small 
estates at the latter rate of 25 years' purchase, it appears that 
after deducting for cost of management, and charging com- 
pound interest on the instalments, and crediting the purchaser 
with similar interest on his payments, when made punctually, 
the profit to the shareholders will be, at the least, 91. per cent. 

" This profit may be much increased by a partial adoption 
of the system of the Prussian Land Banks : issuing the de- 
bentures of the society to the sellers of estates, and those who 

O 



290 APPENDIX. 

have encumbrances thereon, and subsequently receiving these 
securities from the purchasers in payment of their instal- 
ments. 

" As the payment of the purchase money will commence 
in six months from each investment, there will be no delay in 
the realization of income, as in railway and other public 
companies. Interest of 41. per cent will therefore be paid to 
each shareholder on the amount of his calls, with a bonus, as 
the profits shall be received. 

" The intended law for facilitating the transfer of landed 
property will bring many estates into the market ; and forced 
sales, in the present state of the country, Cwhen persons 
having ready money to invest are not likely to become pur- 
chasers), would be ruinous to all interested in property. But 
if capitalists find the state of the country improved, they will 
invest in the purchase of land in Ireland with as much con- 
fidence, and at as high rates, as they do now in Scotland, a 
country far inferior in climate and soil. The owners, in- 
cumbrancers, and annuitants on property, as well as the 
tenants and public generally, are therefore deeply interested 
in the success of the society. 

" Applications for shares to be addressed to the secretaries, 
10, Ely Place, Dublin. 

" Committee. — Earl op Devon. 

Lord Monteagle. 

Sir Edward R. Borough, Bart. 

Wm. Monsell, Esq. M. P. 

Robert R. Guinness, Esq. 

Robert Bramston Smith, Esq. 

Earl of Courtown. 

Sir David Roche, Bart. 

James Fagan, Esq., M. P. 

Francis Goold, Esq. 

William H. Barrington, Esq. 

Robert Owen, Esq." 

The Farmers' Estate Society has already commenced 
operations on a moderate scale, by the purchase, on advan- 
tageous terms, of sundry parcels of land \ and as a mode of 
testing the highly beneficial tendency of such investments, 



APPENDIX. 291 

both to the shareholders and to those whom the society may- 
locate upon their lands as freeholders and permanent settlers, 
the result will, I believe, prove satisfactory even far beyond 
present expectation. It cannot be otherwise, when, looking 
at the names affixed to the prospectus as promoters and direc- 
tors, we find there not only persons of high station and great 
influence, but also men of sound practical views, of enlarged 
intelligence, and undoubted patriotism. It is impossible to 
limit the extent to which this Society may find it desirable 
to extend their operations. As affording every necessary 
facility for intending emigrants to settle on their native soil, 
as retaining British capital at home, as creating in Ireland 
a middle race of yeoman proprietors, and as affording a most 
secure and remunerative investment to those who have money 
to deposit, either as shareholders or purchasers, I fearlessly 
assert, from personal knowledge of certain of the parties 
engaged, and the objects in view, that this Society, if properly 
supported, will prove itself an invaluable adjunct to the 
working of the Encumbered Estates Act in particular, and 
generally to the prosperity of Ireland, and consequently of 
England herself. In order to facilitate the inquiries of Eng- 
lish settlers, and to render them that assistance which their 
particular views may require, and which will be unreservedly 
and liberally bestowed, a committee of shareholders will pro- 
bably be established in London, who will be prepared to 
afford particulars of lands on sale by the Society, together 
with the inspection of plans, sections, maps, and every other 
facility which may aid an intending settler in his selection. 
At a time when England offers to the small agricultural 
capitalist so inadequate a return for his outlay, the fact of 
the existence of this Society must be welcome intelligence. 
By having the payment for his farm spread over a number 
of years, the investor is enabled to retain a large portion of 
his capital for the necessary improvement of his estate ; and 
he has also the opportunity of arranging with the Society as 
to the amount of his investment, the exact quantity of land 
he may require, and of choosing such a description of pro- 



292 APPENDIX. 

perty as to situation, soil, and general character and condi- 
tion, as may best accord with his inclination, pursuits or 
prospects. Why Englishmen of active minds and moderate 
means should embark themselves and their suffering families 
in wild, and too often uncertain, speculations in far distant 
and barbarous colonies, is an incomprehensible fact, so long 
as there exist fairer opportunities for profitable investment 
of capital and labour so much nearer home. The supposed 
social state of Ireland, doubtless, deters many ; yet the settler 
must bear in mind, that there are many falsehoods and ex- 
aggerations foisted upon the English public by parties who 
conceive themselves interested in retaining the country in 
its present state of ignorance and discontent. But the major 
part of Ireland is free from any outbreaks of popular vio- 
lence, and many of the finest and most improvable districts 
may claim an immunity from outrage equally with any dis- 
trict in England itself. I staid two days and two nights in 
a farm-house among the mountains of Mayo, which was un- 
defended by either lock or bolt ; I have travelled on foot 
and on horseback unattended through wild and lonely dis- 
tricts after nightfall ; I have passed through the midst of 
faction fights, and sojourned in cabins on the solitary shores 
of the Atlantic, and among the wild moors of the west ; but 
never yet met with either theft, robbery, or violence, nay, 
not even with one symptom of incivility or disrespect. 

Let the settler in Ireland but take this Scripture rule for 
his guide, " to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly 
with his God," and general experience has proved, that he 
may pursue his schemes or his avocations unmolested there, 
and that there, too, he may live and die in peace ! 



THE END. 



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